Capcom explained why they decided to make Street Fighter 5 into a platform rather than compilation discs.
"Looking back on Street Fighter 4, these compilation discs revived interest in the series for a limited amount of time," Dahlgren said. "However, for a general audience, waiting a year for new content was too long, so that made it very difficult to sustain people's interest.
"Additionally, that old strategy punished players who took a break from playing the game. For instance, if they stopped playing during Street Fighter 4, and they wanted to come back and play a little more during the Super Street Fighter 4 era, they would have been forced to purchase an upgrade to play in the largest player pool.
"Essentially, what we did over time with Street Fighter 4 is made our player pool smaller and smaller by eliminating people who didn't purchase the upgrades. That old method forced players to purchase all of the new content, even if only a few characters were really appealing to them.
"Looking forward, our new strategy is more consumer friendly. This also creates additional long-term engagement with the game, because the more you play it, the more you're rewarded. We're always adding to the player base this time around — we're never shrinking it by requiring a paid update. Players can leave at any time and come back at any time, and play on the latest balance adjustments with the largest player base," stated Dahlgren.
By releasing new characters regularly, it ensures there is always new content players can look forward to in the short term, said Capcom.
"That allows the competitive environment to never be stale, so there are always new strategies and tactics that are evolving," he said.