Though Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was received critically well–our own review included–pre-launch criticisms that hung on awkward animations and a questionable final roster ultimately hampered the commercial success of the game. YouTube user Liam Robertson, aka “Game History Guy,” reported to have contact with some Capcom employees that revealed insight into troubled development, mostly hinging on a surprisingly low Marvel vs Capcom Infinite budget.
Robertson was reportedly told that the budget for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was slightly more than half of that allotted to the Street Fighter V DLC. You read that right. Not the full Street Fighter V game, just the DLC plans. No specific numbers were given, but as budgets for DLC are presumably much lower than the actual game, it reveals that the team behind Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite was working under some very tight constraints. In order to save time and money, employees reported that Infinite was cobbled together using pre-existing assets, mostly from Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Very few changes were made to these assets, if any at all. Often, artists were just told to alter the shaders to account for the new art style, which accounts for some of the very odd looking characters and the polish that was given to Chun Li after negative reception from fans.
What’s more is every gamer’s worst fears realized. While it may be little more than conspiracy theories in most cases, employees report that...