"Lazy" Capcom accused of using stock logo for Street Fighter 6 reveal

Fighting game fans have enjoyed a bit of a genre resurgence following turbulent months amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, Guilty Gear Strive broke sales records for the relatively obscure Arc System Works franchise and that success seems to be continuing well into 2022.

SNK's The King of Fighters XV was also well received by the community while many other titles are scheduled to release later in the year, such as MultiVerse and DNF Duel. Furthermore, highly anticipated projects such as Riot's Project L seem to be coming along nicely.

Despite the aforementioned, one long-standing rumoured sequel was yet to be announced, Street Fighter 6. Now that fans finally got a first look at the game, the mixed reactions show Capcom have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to regain fan trust after a shockingly disappointing release of Street Fighter V in 2015.

People are naturally optimistic considering the Japanese company is in a much more financially stable state than in previous years. Not so long ago, Capcom had to turn to Sony just to get SFV's development fully funded, in turn making the game exclusive to PlayStation 4, launching with barebones features.

Their fighting game division is also spearheaded by new blood following the departure of Yoshinori Ono last year. They've already proved more than capable of handling constant updates, making Street Fighter V an exciting game to play and watch competitively with new, interesting DLC, and balance updates throughout 2021.

The reveal itself was not half-bad. Sure, it was a classic Capcom "announcement of an announcement" as fans aptly call these mini-teasers. Yet it offered just enough to get the FGCexcited at the prospect of what the in-house RE engine is capable of, with a much better looking Ryu and SFV newcomer Luke showcasing it.

The issue lies with a seemingly mundane but highly iconic piece of the Street Fighter franchise going wrong -- its lacklustre logo.

SF6  accused of using a stock Adobe logo

The new Street Fighter 6 reeks of "esports." Ditching the colourful, bombastic, and immediately recognisable style of previous entries, which adopted certain colour palettes and graffiti-like font as franchise signature, the SF6 logo is now being accused of being a simple stock Adobe one.

When we say it reeks of esports, it's not just coming out of thin air. Look at this quote directly taken from SF6's press release: "Capcom is developing the title with the aim of elevating the fighting game genre to a new level in the world of esports while also utilizing its cutting-edge development technology to produce an enthralling game experience."

The creative director for Ars Technica tweeted out a picture of an $80 Adobe stock logo picture and let's just say the resemblance is uncanny. "I knew it was generic but I didn't realize it was this bad."

If you want to believe it's all a big coincidence, by all means, but let's be perfectly honest, a company as big as Capcom, with a historied track record of coming up with some legendary iconography over the years, can't allow for such a slip-up to happen. 

FGC content creator Steve "Infinite SGE" called out Capcom for their laziness, comparing the SF6 logo to something one could commission on Fiverr, an online marketplace for artists that may sometimes not deliver things up to standards you'd find elsewhere.

I remember joking about Capcom hiring a Fiverr artist to quickly put a #StreetFighter6 logo together for the game, but them actually getting outed for it is just sad. Idk how much of this is true, but if it is, then they got some explaining to do. This is just beyond lazy smh🤦🏾‍♂️ https://t.co/RCEy0YrH2t

— Esteeban (@INFINITE_SGE) February 21, 2022

The tweet was followed up by fellow FGC streamer and friend, Max "Maximilian Dood" Christensen, arguably the most known content creator within the scene, who petitioned Capcom to head back to the workshop in regards to the SF6 logo.

"We understand 6 will be different than previous SF's, visually & otherwise. But -something- has to be done abt the logo. Praying for the best in 4 months," Max said on social media, adding a comparison picture of previous mainline Street Fighter logo's.

At the end of the day, gameplay will determine SF6's success in the long run and we know the FGC is the kind of place to make a storm out of a teacup, but if we could inject some actual redeeming qualities into the game's logo, that'd be great. 

Oh, and before people start ranting about "placeholder logos," as if that were the case with a massively anticipated game reveal, check out a direct comparison of SFV's initial reveal logo at PSX 2014 versus what fans ended up seeing upon the title's release in 2015.

The jury's still out on whether Capcom will stick to their guns or do a complete turnaround on SF6's universally panned logo. 

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Featured image courtesy of Adobe/Capcom.