Capcom are in a pretty big mess right now, as it was revealed that a recent patch for “Street Fighter V” added a little more to the game than most players suspected. It’s not uncommon for players to analyze the patches of their favorite games file by file nowadays, and thus it didn’t take long for the news to come out that “Street Fighter V” contains a “tool” that borders on a rootkit.
The game reportedly installs a file called “Capcom.sys” in the System32 folder of the current Windows installation, which then gives it privileges it normally shouldn’t have. Reports claim that the file can even allow the game to execute kernel-mode code, something which is a huge security risk for any application, especially one with Internet connectivity.
Not only that, but it apparently causes severe issues with the systems of some players, leading to crashes and otherwise making the game unplayable. That’s because the tool doesn’t properly target different versions of Windows, nor does it account for different system configurations.
Capcom, to their credit, were quick to backtrack on their decision and have announced that they’re reverting the update. The damage was already done though, so we are not sure how much this decision would benefit them right now. Many players are actively talking about the situation, and it seems like “Street Fighter V” has been losing player numbers as a result too.
We’ve already seen various problems in the past caused by irresponsible software developers releasing untested tools for their games, sometimes aimed at catching cheaters. Sony were in a particularly bad spot due to such a mistake, and the company still feels the fallout from their decisions to some extent.
Whether or not this will affect Capcom in the long run is hard to tell, but it definitely struck a bad blow to “Street Fighter V”, which was already in a shaky spot. The game came out to some mixed responses due to technical issues and some aspects of the communication between the developer and their fans, and this certainly doesn’t help.
The big question that remains for some people is what exactly caused this situation in the first place. Surely Capcom must have predicted the huge backlash such a move would cause them, and they obviously must not want to face the wrath of the Internet just for the small chance of catching a few extra cheaters, so the decision is quite questionable.
Many suspect that it was caused by a clueless manager making a last-minute addition to the patch before it was deployed, but that would imply some pretty shocking things about the way the development process works behind the scenes of Capcom.
Meanwhile, Capcom have at least been working hard on producing new content for the game, and even though this move was obviously not received well by their fans, some still appreciate the development effort that continuously goes into “Street Fighter V” since its release. The game came off to a rocky start, and it’s not exactly in a good spot right now, but it still has a lot of potential.
Hopefully we’re not going to see any more similar incidents from Capcom though, as the studio doesn’t really have any more room for mistakes in the eyes of their fans. One more major slip-up like that could prove fatal for them, especially if they are planning any major releases in the near future, so hopefully they aren’t going to sacrifice everything with their questionable anti-cheating tools.