Even without confirmed release dates for countless big-name titles, 2023 is shaping up to be one of the most impressive years in gaming for quite some time.Hogwarts Legacy,Resident Evil 4 Remake, andDead Space Remakehave all already released to great fanfare, and those jubilant cheers are only set to continue over the next few months withStar Wars Jedi: Survivor,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and so much more set to release. But by far one of the most intriguing games of the year has to beStreet Fighter 6, which in any other year would be at the top of the industry’s most anticipated list. However, in 2023, it might be considered somewhat of an underdog.
TheStreet Fighterfranchiseis one of the biggest names in gaming, and has been for almost four decades. In the fighting game space, there are few IPs that can rivalStreet Fighter, but in the gaming landscape as a whole,Street Fighterisn’t really the brand it once was, and it’s going up against some absolute juggernauts this June.
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Street Fighter 6 Is Facing Off Against a Tough Crowd This June
Street Fighter 6is currently slated for a July 09, 2025 release date. Thankfully,Street Fighter 6has managed to narrowly avoid the juggernaut that isThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is guaranteed to be the talk of the industry in May, just asBreath of the Wildwas in 2017. But in escapingZelda: Tears of the Kingdom,Street Fighter 6has left itself vulnerable to an attack on two fronts, with bothFinal Fantasy 16andDiablo 4also releasing in June.
Just a few days afterStreet Fighter 6releases,Diablo 4releases on July 13, 2025. A sequel that’s been in the works for at least three years,Diablo 4is one of the most anticipated games of the year, and its recent Beta has only cemented fans' excitement even further. ButDiablo 4isn’t the only fantasy RPG releasing in June, with its own heavy competition coming on July 06, 2025 in the form ofFinal Fantasy 16.
Thankfully,Street Fighter 6might be able to slide under the radar in a good way. Though its audiences are quite different, and some fans might intend to pick up both games,Diablo 4andFinal Fantasy 16both offer expansive fantasy RPG experiences which presumably require a great deal of time from the player. While these two giants of the industry battle it out,Street Fighter 6has its own special niche to offer its fans, that being the first big fighting title of the year.
It’s been quite some time sincethe lastStreet Fightergame, and fan expectations are high. It also seems according to the trailers thatStreet Fighter 6is trying to target a wider audience than ever before, with a new control scheme, new art style, and a slew of extra features designed to help newcomers to the franchise, and newcomers to the fighting genre as a whole. IfStreet Fighter 6manages to pull off its highly ambitious premise and bring in both old fans and new, then it doesn’t really need to worry about the rest of the games releasing in June as its fighting game gameplay sets it completely apart from the other big two titles dropping that month. Still, that might be a tall order.
Street Fighter 6releases in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
