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Post Script
Q+A: Takayuki Nakayama, director
Takayuki Nakayama (right) first played Street Fighter when he was nine years old on an arcade cabinet in the corner of a sweet shop close to his home in Gunma Prefecture, a hundred or so kilometres north of Tokyo. He describes himself as a middling player – the root, perhaps, of Street Fighter 6’s concessions to novices. Having been made director of Street Fighter V, he felt as if he was racing to catch up with a schedule that had run away from the development team. Street Fighter 6 was always going to be his first big swing at the series.
Where did the idea for the mode that became World Tour originate? What were your goals? When developing this game’s predecessor, Street Fighter V, we wanted the game to be played by a broad audience, so we added Ed, a character with easier controls than the others. We saw many players on social media talking about how much they liked Ed as a character, but hated seeing him lose constantly in battles. That was when I realised that we needed to create a world outside of the battles where if you tried your best you would get praise for your efforts. This was the genesis of World Tour Mode as a way for players completely unfamiliar with the series to become a fighting-game player while also learning about the characters.