Street Fighter 5 story mode coming as free update in June

Street Fighter 5 is getting a story mode that's bigger and more cinematic than anything the series has ever seen - and it's coming as a free update for all players in June.

Since first announcing the game, Capcom has been coy about where Street Fighter 5 falls within the greater Street Fighter timeline. Capcom's Yoshinori Ono finally put the rumors to rest in a recent interview, and gave me some new details on Street Fighter 5's backdrop.

"I know a lot of people have been asking about this, and in terms of where Street Fighter 5 takes place within the timeline, it's between Street Fighter 4 and Street Fighter 3. And we know that, with the way the Street Fighter timeline works, that this makes it very, very confusing - way more convoluted even than Star Wars - but basically the progression starts with Street Fighter Alpha, then SF2, SF4, SF5, and finally SF3. That's the whole timeline." Numbers seem to have lost all meaning in the Street Fighter universe.

Ono hopes this placement in the timeline will make more sense once players receive the story expansion update. "The story expansion that we're working on is more akin to the sort of big story experience you saw in games like Mortal Kombat," Ono said. "With SF5, the big theme is 'reset'. We're resetting everything in order to help widen the fan base, and that's why we created this very immersive story experience to get people involved and to help them understand who these characters are."

In addition to the story expansion update, Street Fighter 5 will also include individual character stories that, together, serve as a prequel to the story expansion. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and the rest of the SF cast have battled across numerous movies, comics, anime, and games. Ono described these character stories as a chance to catch players up on the colorful lives of the game's combatants.

As for details on the meat of this story, Ono didn't let much slip, save for the fact that the six DLC characters coming post-launch were chosen because they have some role to play in the overall plot. He also mentioned that, while the story expansion's tale has a beginning and end, the team is open to expanding upon the expansion based on the fan's reception.

Street Fighter 5 is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC this February.