Street Fighter X Tekken To Get Free Post-Launch Tournament Support Mode

Street Fighter X Tekken is to get an added bonus post-launch, with the release of the tournament support mode as a downloadable patch in a bid to address and hopefully alleviate the concerns of fans regarding the game's controversial and divisive gem system.

The gem system attaches a trio of gems to your fighter, each with varying properties revolving around speed, defence and attack, of which there are two types, namely Assist Gems and Boost Gems. Assist Gems are always active and help augment a player's weaknesses, while Boost Gems improve a character's attributes but must be activated by fulfilling certain in-game tasks. There are 57 gems on the disc.

Fans have claimed that the gem system will give players an unfair advantage during fights, but Capcom assures that this won't be the case. Tournaments may also be problematic, with the gem system having an impact upon matches, but Capcom has attempted to allay these fears.

"We know a lot of players are worried that with the gem system tournaments will be harder to run," Street Fighter Producer Yoshinori Ono told Eurogamer. "We know they take a lot of time. A lot of players were saying, 'I have to do button checks. Do I have to do a gem check now before a match?' With regards to that we plan to release a free post-launch tournament support mode."

It's hoped that the tournament support mode will be released as soon as possible post-launch, with feedback from the community helping Capcom in gauging patches and future plans for the gem system. "Hopefully it will alleviate a lot of the concerns the community has," Ono stated. "Hopefully from that we'll get feedback from the community, and then we'll have a better direction of exactly what we should do with this mode."

Street Fighter X Tekken is out on March 6th in North America and March 9th in Europe.