Capcom loves releasing high-quality collections of some of its most popular titles, adding new content, and giving fans new ways to play classic games that might not be available on modern platforms in easily accessible ways. The latest attempt at this is the Capcom Fighting Collection, which not only compiles some of the greatest fighting games from the legendary developer together but also brings some to western audiences for the first time.
The core of the collection is centered around five arcade entries from the Darkstalkers series, which are available in full for the first time outside of Japan, and Red Earth’s first release outside of arcades.
Not only is this the first time several of these games are being played outside of Japan or the arcade for many people, but Capcom has also gone in and added online functionality and full rollback netcode to each title. This makes every game playable online with adjustable settings that can provide a customized, excellent online experience.
Does the Capcom Fighting Collection have crossplay?
Unfortunately, while the game is an incredible collection that breathes new life into several arcade classics, it has its own flaws that keep it from being the definitive experience many fans will keep coming back to for years. Namely, because it lacks crossplay between its various versions.
Capcom Fighting Collection was released simultaneously on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. But with the game lacking crossplay, it is highly unlikely that it will foster anything outside of a small dedicated playerbase because the matchmaking pool will continue to dwindle over the coming months.
Not only does the collection feature 10 different games that are all older, which will fragment the playerbase amongst various fanbases, but no crossplay essentially means players will have fewer options when jumping into online matches.
Not having that wider pool of players to pull from limits the longevity of any game, and it can also stifle growth. For example, players will be matched with dedicated veterans and likely quit after being stomped over and over by the same handful of active users on their respective platforms.
That doesn’t mean Capcom couldn’t add crossplay at some point in the future, but with how much additional development time that might take, and the fact the game was developed by an internal team at the company, it isn’t likely. Maybe the next collection will include the feature, thus finally giving players a reason to use an official release rather than sticking to something like Fightcade to find dedicated pockets of players for these older games.
