DLC Characters Will Be Playable In Street Fighter V’s Story Mode

Capcom made two major announcements concerning Street Fighter V today. The first is that the 3-4 hour cinematic story expansion, which will arrive later in June 2016, will have five chapters and allow people to use the DLC characters without purchasing them. The second is that Zenny will not be added to Street Fighter V, with Capcom instead allowing real-cash DLC purchases through the PlayStation Store and Steam later this month.

The Street Fighter V story expansion is set between Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter III and will be a free add-on. It will offer a cinematic experience known as “A Shadow Falls,” with players able to earn 30,000 Fight Money for beating it on Normal Mode and 50,000 Fight Money earned for beating the more difficult Extra Mode unlocked after eating Normal. Alex, Balrog, Guile, Ibuki, Juri, and Urien will all be playable for free in the story mode, even before being released as full DLC characters.

Here’s Capcom’s official description for Street Fighter V’s “A Shadow Falls.”

The Street Fighter V Cinematic Story Expansion, “A Shadow Falls,” depicts the ultimate battle between the evil Shadaloo organization and the heroic World Warriors who rise up against them. Seven “Black Moons” are deployed by Shadaloo, granting M. Bison unimaginable power and enveloping the earth in total darkness. Seeing the moons mysteriously appear in the sky, Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li embark on an epic journey around the world to retrieve fragment pieces that are the key to stopping the “Black Moons” before it’s too late. Along the way, they encounter the rest of the World Warriors, each of whom have their own agendas and motivations in mind. The final battle between good and evil begins now… who will rise up?

Capcom will not be adding Zenny to Street Fighter V as an official currency. The company said, “After extensive testing and development, we came to the conclusion that it was not necessary in order to carry out our original vision for the product. Instead, we will be utilizing the PlayStation Store and Steam stores to carry out real money transactions.” The ability to buy DLC with real cash will arrive in late June 2016, alongside the story update, and will end the Alex and Guile free trials.

The Street Fighter V pricing structure is as follows.

• New Characters – 100,000 Fight Money,  $5.99/€ 5.99
• New Stages – 70,000 Fight Money, $3.99/€3.99
• Alternate Stages – 40,000 Fight Money, $1.99/€1.99
• Story Costumes – 40,000 Fight Money, $1.99/€1.99
• Premium Costumes – $3.99/€3.99

Premium Battle Costumes will be available to Research at the end of June 2016.

Capcom also talked about some additional updates that will come to Street Fighter V after the June story and real-money DLC options. Daily Challenges will be retooled and called Targets. Targets will be daily goals that allow you to earn Fight Money. Extra Battle and Versus CPU modes are also planned.

Street Fighter V is immediately available for the PlayStation 4 and Windows PCs.