Capcom Cancels Capcom Cup 2021

In 2020 we saw a lot of public events shut down or be canceled because of the rising COVID-19 pandemic. While this continued a little into 2021, eventual lowering cases and vaccine availability in so many countries saw public events open up again! There was still some occasional spread through some events and a bit of a scare when the Delta variant was making the rounds, but everything still slowly opened up. After Capcom Cup 2020 was closed and replaced with an online event, Street Fighter fans were excited for a headlining physical tournament event to take place again.

Unfortunately, for Capcom Cup 2021, or Capcom Cup VIII as it was announced, this was not in the cards. With the rising cases of the Omicron variant, many public events are beginning to close again. Just last week on January 6th it was announced that E3 would not be held publically with Omicron listed as the primary reasoning. Later that same day, the CapcomFighters Twitter account announced in a tweet that Capcom Cup VIII would be canceled and instead transformed into an online event once again.

Obviously, safety is paramount and this is the correct choice to make. No game or event would change that. It is nonetheless unfortunate for the Street Fighter series and its fans. Luke, the final character for Street Fighter V, was released only a little over a month ago. After so many issues and negative receptions, the game had truly turned itself around over the last couple of seasons. This would have also been the first time the completed and most up-to-date version of the game would have been played at Capcom Cup VIII.

This also relates to the other reason people were excited – announcements. Capcom Cup has had big announcements for Street Fighter V since they began hosting the game, including 2017’s still incredible trailer revealing the entire season 3 lineup to 2019’s reveal of the final character meant for the game (at that time), Seth. This year is the 35th anniversary of the series, which was briefly mentioned in their new year greeting. Because of that, along with a promise about the news of the next entry coming “soon”, fans were excited about an official announcement of the next entry.

If there would be any news about the future of the series, Capcom Cup would be where it has to happen and there would have been no better way to generate hype than to show it to a live audience of screaming passionate fans. That’s not to say that it won’t still happen though. We could still see a trailer or teaser of some sort online and although it won’t be nearly as exciting and hype-filled, it would still be exciting.

All we can do now is speculate and wait for the replacement event. I’m sure the matches will be fun and spectated by many fans online, all together crossing their fingers in hopes that a trailer of some sort is shown after the grand finals. With the passion and content that the development team has put out recently and the general upswing in Capcom’s titles over the last few years, the future of Street Fighter is a lot brighter than it was when Street Fighter V was released.