Fighting Games Distribution Needs to Change

One of the biggest problem I see with fighting games is that there's a new version of them coming out every X amount of years and developers are trying to extend the support of them via overly overpriced DLCs. While adding DLCs character is a good way to breath new life to an older game, it only goes so far before the player base move on to something else.

The revolution needed here is already widely popular with other genre. If we look at Rocket League, for example, we can imediately see that the system that they have in place is sustainable longer term as they've been around for a long time already.

What the fighting genre needs is to switch to a free to play approach with accessible battle pass mechanics that would introduce a new character, new cosmetics, and the like through a leveling system each seasons.

Picture this: You downloaded Street Fighter 6 for free, you have access to 10 characters and have the ability to unlock another one this season via a battle pass. You can, if you want, just play with the 10 characters or shell out the 20$ for the battle pass.

The amazing thing about giving something away for free is that it's easier to build a community around it and things like battle passes allows it to be sustainable longer term. For players, knowing that the game will be around for a longer period is good because it means that he won't need to re-learn mechanics with a new game.

Riot games, and other companies, are already in the process of releasing fighting games that follows this approach. It remains to be seen whether it'll be a success or not.