Valve Corporation released a public apology for leaking the next DLC characters of Street Fighter V on Steam, days before the official announcement at the Evo 2019 fighting game tournament.
A trailer for the addition of Street Fighter II‘s E. Honda, Final Fight 3‘s Lucia, and Final Fight‘s Poison was uploaded to Steam, generating excitement for players as the last character added to the game was Evil Ryu in December.
The problem, however, is that Capcom was planning to reveal the new DLC characters at this year’s edition of the Evolution Championship Series. Street Fighter V is no longer headlining the tournament, as it has been bumped off by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but the game was still looking to make a splash by revealing the next round of DLC characters.
The DLC trailer went up on Steam days before the Evo 2019 weekend though, forcing Capcom to make an official announcement earlier than it had planned. Employees of the developer expressed their disappointment with the mishap, with Street Fighter V producer Yoshinori Ono among those who vented their frustrations on Twitter.
Today I don't feel like doing anything. https://t.co/6rcbR5yUJb
— Yoshinori Ono (@Yoshi_OnoChin) August 1, 2019
Valve formally apologized for the incident through a post on the discussions board of Street Fighter V on Steam, attributing the blunder to “a mix-up in the publishing process” without going into more specific details on the cause of the leak.
“It’s a regrettable and unintentional situation, and we have already implemented measures to prevent this error from happening again. We are fans of Street Fighter ourselves and we’re sorry for the error,” the post reads.
While it is good to see Valve taking responsibility for what happened, the damage has been done. Fortunately, fans are still excited to play as E. Honda, Lucia, and Poison, who are now available to purchase for $6 each or 100,000 Fight Money. Capcom will also release a bundle for all three characters for $15, which will also include their alternate colors and costumes.
On the PlayStation 4, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition remains one of the best exclusives for the console in the fighting genre, as the franchise continues to maintain its popularity two decades since the original Street Fighter launched in 1987.
