It’s early days for Street Fighter 6 but fans are already working out character popularity with interesting results.
Redditor geco_420 created a handy character popularity chart based on Capcom ID registration from the official Street Fighter 6 website, and it provides a snapshot of Street Fighter 6 online play as of June 8.
So, who comes out on top? Ken has the biggest piece of the pie, beating out close friend and fellow projectile specialist Ryu.
In third is Cammy, an already popular Street Fighter character boosted in Street Fighter 6 by a new, superb design.
The heavy-hitting Marisa and Manon are fourth and fifth respectively, which is a strong showing for brand new characters. Typically, new characters aren’t the most popular at the launch of Street Fighter games, although Juri, who made her debut in Street Fighter 4, was an instant hit.
Grappler Zangief is in at sixth (he’s particularly strong in Street Fighter 6). Luke, in at seven, potentially benefits from being the default character for newcomers. Newcomer Jamie is eighth.
Surprises include Dee Jay, usually one of Street Fighter’s weaker characters, at nine, and Guile, one of Street Fighter’s most famous and strongest characters so low at 16.
Chun-Li is also surprisingly low, given her popularity within the Street Fighter fanbase, but she’s a little trickier to play in this game than in previous entries, so perhaps she will climb the popularity ladder in the months to come as players get to grips with her kit. Poor old Dhalsim is in last place, despite experts considering the stretchy-limbed zoner strong in Street Fighter 6.
Street Fighter 6’s most-popular characters list will of course shift over the years, with Capcom expected to issue balance changes in response to what it sees online. It will be interesting to see what Capcom does first in this regard; Street Fighter 6 antagonist and frustrating keep-away specialist JP is already considered extremely powerful in the right hands, but as we can see from the data isn’t the most popular character.
If you’re wondering which character’s for you, IGN has a Street Fighter 6 character guide, as well as individual character guides to hand.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Send news tips to wesley_yinpoole@ign.com.