In an interview with Japanese website 4gamer, Street Fighter series producer Yoshinori Ono says that a strong potential for piracy is keeping PC gamers from getting their own version of Super Street Fighter IV.
Street Fighter IV played much better on my computer than I expected, and I'm sure I've not been alone in hoping for a PC version of the follow-up title. Unfortunately this isn't happening any time soon, and PC game piracy is largely to blame.
In 4gamer's interview (translated by Adriasang), Ono explained that while the PC version of Street Fighter IV was a strong seller, it was also a top pirated title. Spreading the Street Fighter brand around is a good thing, but when piracy is so high that certain areas would consider Super Street Fighter IV a "free" game, Ono says the protection of the intellectual property comes first.
There's still a possibility of a future release, especially considering how easy it would be to transfer the game, running on a Direct X-based arcade board, to the PC, but Capcom would need a pretty powerful copy protection solution for that to happen.
Thanks a lot, pirates. I'm punching the next Jack Sparrow cosplayer I see right in the face.
Yoshinori Ono Interview [4Gamer via Adriasang]