Capcom has decided to put its premier Street Fighter 6 global tournament finals behind a paywall. Needless to say, it has not gone down well with the players or the fans.

During the Tokyo Game Show 2025 stage live event, Capcom announced the schedule for Capcom Cup 12 and the SFL: 2025 World Championship. Both events are slated for March 11th to 15th, with the group stages and SFL qualifiers running from the 11th to the 13th, followed by the finals on the 14th and 15th.

While the group stages and qualifiers will be streamed for free, the finals require a paid pass, with free access granted only a week later. Each finals stream is priced at 4,000 yen (approx. 37,700 won), while a bundle for both events sits at 6,000 yen (approx. 56,600 won)—a cost equivalent to a B-tier offline ticket.

Players are already calling the move premature. Saul Leonardo Mena II, better known as 'MenaRD', the Dominican fighting game pro, took to X on the 29th to say, "While this might be standard in Japan and affordable for some, many fans in my region—and beyond—simply cannot afford this. You shouldn't block access to the peak moments of Street Fighter. It’s too soon for this."

Adel Anouche, the Emirati Street Fighter pro, labelled it a "surprising and bizarre decision" that surely won't end well for Capcom, while Brazilian Street Fighter 6 player Antônio Diniz ('Zangief_bolado') was even more blunt: "Are you serious? Viewership will drop by 99.9%. This is absolutely not the way."

New York-based pro 'iDOM' Derek Ruffin added, "Nobody wants to pay to watch their favourite player get caught in a 'throw loop' situation." For the uninitiated, 'throw loop' refers to the frustrating tactic of repeatedly grabbing an opponent the moment they stand up.

It is worth noting that even massive global esports titles like the League of Legends World Championship don't charge for online viewing. Instead, they use 'Drops' to incentivise viewership or lean into co-streaming with content creators to broaden their reach.

In a niche scene like fighting games, putting the grand finale behind a paywall will inevitably slaughter viewer numbers. For the pros who rely on the tournament's visibility to boost their market value, this move could be positively catastrophic.