How Much is the Street Fighter Video Game Franchise Worth?
Street Fighter is easily one of the oldest arcade games in existence. The original game was released back in 1987 and it was an overwhelming success, to say the least. If you have somehow managed to avoid playing the game all these years, it’s name is fairly self-descriptive. The earliest versions of the game consists of one person playing against the computer by performing a series of martial arts movements. Of course, as time went on and the game became even more popular, the technology surrounding the video game industry also changed. This essentially allowed people to start taking on their own opponents instead of merely playing against the computer. In the more recent versions of the game, you can play online against virtually any opponent you choose.
While it’s true that this is a game that serves as a near-perfect metaphor for the evolution of video game technology in general, that isn’t necessarily what this particular article is about. Instead, it’s designed more to focus on the amount of money that has been made due to the Street Fighter franchise and its success over the years. For anyone that still thinks a lot of money doesn’t exist in video games, this will definitely change your mind.
Today, there are five different versions of Street Fighter available, along with an Alpha version and a crossover version with Capcom. There are also a number of other games that may not be solely dedicated to Street Fighter, yet exist somewhere within that franchise. The most recent game was released in 2016. However, if you think that all of the money exists in the games themselves, you would be mistaken. As a matter of fact, there have been all kinds of additions to the franchise over the years. Some of the more popular things have involved both board and card games, along with an animated series and even one involving live action. As is the case with most video game franchises, there’s also heavy involvement with the comic book industry. All of this adds up to create a nice little chunk of change.
To be more exact, this is a franchise that has made more than 10 billion dollars, and that’s just on the games alone. If you add in everything else, you can easily double that amount. When it’s all said and done, the net worth of the entire franchise is just over 22 billion dollars. It’s highly unlikely that anyone ever thought the franchise would be worth anything near that much when they developed the first game back in the late 1980s. In reality, it’s fairly unlikely that anyone ever developed that first game with the idea of creating a franchise in the first place. Back then, that wasn’t something that was really thought of as a possibility, and it certainly wasn’t the intention of most people that created video games at that time.
Instead, it’s something that just sort of happened. The original video game was so successful that customers wanted more, so over the years, additional video games were released. As culture changed and technology increased, people began to see how profitable it could really be, especially if other things were brought into the franchise that didn’t have anything directly tied to the sale of games.
When the company started selling things associated with the characters in Street Fighter, such as the card games, board games, and comics, the money really started rolling in. The entire franchise became even more popular when they started working with animated and live-action films. There’s certainly no indication that this particular franchise will be slowing down anytime in the near future. While plans for the next game have not been finalized with a specific release date as of yet, there is every reason to believe that another Street Fighter game will be coming down the pike. It simply makes sense to continue producing something that has proven to be so successful over time.
Some video games do better than others. While some turn out to be nothing more than a fad, others become something of a staple. This one definitely falls into the latter category. As a result, its success seems to be cemented for years to come. As a matter of fact, an entirely new generation has already been introduced to Street Fighter and it looks like the franchise will live to see at least a third generation, if not more.