John Paul M. Joaquin Games 06.11.2022 01:Jun AM EDT

Street Fighter 6 To Feature Cross-Play and Rollback Netcode for Multiplayer Games

Capcom seems to be designing Street Fighter 6 to be the must-play fighting multiplayer game of the year.

Fighting game YouTuber Maximilian Dood recently announced that Capcom had equipped the sixth installment of its Street Fighter series with the ability to let players fight against one another regardless of what platform they're playing on and rollback netcode, per GameSpot.

Capcom previously announced that Street Fighter 6 is scheduled to be released sometime in 2023.

Street Fighter 6 New Features Details

Maximilian Dood mentioned in his official Twitter account that he was able to speak with Capcom developers who have been working on Street Fighter 6, who revealed that the game would have cross-play capabilities.

For those unaware, when a game has cross-play capabilities, it will allow its player to play with or against those from other gaming platforms online. For example, a Street Fight 6 player using a PC can fight against another Street Fighter 6 player using a PlayStation or Xbox console.

Additionally, GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain mentioned that the game would be using rollback netcode for all its online multiplayer matches. The addition of this feature to the game is ground-breaking considering the amount of online fighting game matches being settled due to input delay, as Ars Technica found out.

Rollback netcode isn't a familiar term with gamers, but its existence is said to significantly improve online multiplayer matches. It is a method of navigating latency wherein your PC or gaming console predicts what move the person you're fighting against online will do to avoid input delay.

By contrast, a delay-based netcode, the one resposible for input delays, as the name suggests, artifically delays your inputs by the same amount of time the opponent's inputs need for them to be sent over the network. This delay would theoretically make both inputs "arrive" at the same time and can be executed on the same frame as expected.

However, due to inconsistencies, delay-based netcodes coud be blamed for loses on online fight game matches. In a rollback netcode, the game would predict what your opponent's inputs will be and will roll it prediction back if it was wrong. The rollback is barely noticable, and evnetually, rollback netcodes became a preferred feature in fighting games.

Street Fighter 6 Details

Capcom's Street Fighter 6 willl be released sometime in 2023 due to the company not disclosing a definite release date. It brings a few new characters to play as or against and would introduce a handful of new mechanics to enhance the game.

For the characters' side of things, the game will introduce Kimberly a fighter that briefly appeared at the end of the game's trailer, and Jamie, who appears to use a variation of a drunken fighting style, per Kotaku.

For the game's new mechanics, it will have a new mechanic called the Drive System, which Capcom describes as "a new gauge used to perform five distinct techniques to enhance a player's offensive or defensive capabilities."

These techniques seem to act like Mortal Kombat 11's attack and defense meters.