Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono addresses Street Fighter 5's lack of content complaints

Street Fighter 5 was released in February as one of 2016's most highly-anticipated releases, but it failed to live up to the hype, facing criticism from fans and critics due to its lack of content and persistent server issues.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono says the team has heard concerns from its fans that the single player aspect of Street Fighter 5 isn't fleshed out enough and plans to address those concerns moving forward.

"I think it's safe to say that we underestimated the popularity of some of the single player features," he explained. "That said, we are excited about the two all-new single-player modes - character story and survival - and we have plans to continue to refine and expand onto those experiences."

In addition to a sparse story mode and the absence of its classic Arcade Mode, the title also suffered from technical issues as well, including broken servers at launch and a number of bugs.

While many believe that the game was rushed to market in February to make release in time for competitive tournaments and the Capcom Pro Tour, Ono said it was not the only reason.

"The Capcom Pro Tour wasn't the only reason for why the game was released when it was," he said. "We understand that if we had more features ready at launch, it probably would've been better received by some of our more casual fans who tend to enjoy Street Fighter more via single-player content, as opposed to competitive play. There's a delicate balance between our hardcore and casual players. We understand that the game serves several needs and we'll continue to work hard to strike that perfect balance so that we can live up to our 'Street Fighter for all' mission.

"As we've stated in the past, Street Fighter 5 is an evolving platform that will continue to get more refined and built upon over time," said Ono. "For us, this is a marathon and not a sprint, and we appreciate all of the words of support as we embark on this journey together."

The producer also said the team is "putting in a lot of effort to smooth out server problems and address issues such as rage quitters, which is affecting players' online experience. "Once we are able to implement all the fixes we have in store, I'm confident fans will enjoy the online experience that much more," Ono said.

The game's first major update was released in March and introduced new character Alex, who was made available for free until Capcom is ready to launch the premium currency Zenny Store. To further flesh out the game, the developer will be releasing a Cinematic Story Expansion as a free update in June and plans to release five more DLC characters by the end of September.