Street Fighter 6 still has a few more months to go before it’s released on June 2nd, but players have already been able to try out the game through various closed beta tests and one demo. Only the most recent of those, the demo, is still live now, or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be after the first and second closed betas concluded. Some players have still been finding ways to access the closed betas outside of their playable windows, but Capcom says that’s against its terms of service and may warrant a ban from some of the game’s competitive events.
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Capcom issued a statement about the matter this week while acknowledging that there were still people finding ways to play the closed beta tests. “Finding ways” in this case most likely means soliciting cracked versions of the beta tests and playing them instead of the demo, but Capcom said that regardless of how you got your hands on the closed beta tests, if you’re playing them at all outside of the designated play windows, “this is a violation of the CBT Terms of Service and can be seen as violation of the Capcom Pro Tour code of conduct.”
To that end, players who are found playing these betas run the risk of losing access to esports competitions. That may not be a big deal for those who just want to play the game on release, but for those who may be using these betas to practice for events when others aren’t able to, it could have a much bigger impact on them.
“For the avoidance of doubt, from this point forward, any player who is shown with clear evidence to be accessing the CBT in an unauthorized way may be deemed ineligible for the upcoming Capcom Pro Tour and Street Fighter League sessions,” Capcom said.
If you’re wondering why someone might want to play the closed betas instead of the demo, it comes down to the contents that are available in each release. The demo lets you play as Luke and Ryu and includes features like the Fighting Ground and World Tour modes, but no online features are available. In the second closed beta test, however, playable characters included Luke, Jamie, Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, Kimberly, Juri, and Ken and generally had more involved in it that competitive players would be interested in.
Street Fighter 6 releases on June 2nd, but for now, players can get their (authorized) fix by downloading the free demo.
