Capcom removes Street Fighter V stage "Skies of Honor" from competitive play

Capcom has announced that the Street Fighter V stage Skies of Honor will not be used in the upcoming Capcom Cup 2016 competition, or in the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour. The level is "too distracting" for pro play, Capcom said, but worse than that, according Brazilian Street Fighter pro Keoma, it was actually making some players physically sick.

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The stage takes place atop an airborne plane, and while the plane itself is fixed in place and the fighters move across it the same as they do on any other level, the background is constantly in motion, to simulate the movement of the aircraft. Keoma said his first experience with the stage left him "a bit dizzy and with a light headache." 

"As we are almost completely focused on the X axis of the foreground and the background is moving and rotating all around, it's not uncommon that it causes enough distraction for the player to actually lose track of things. Remember, we're used to the horizontal scrolling and a little bit of vertical scrolling in pretty much a straight line. We lose track of our guideline (the ground) and while tracking the jumping opponent while the stage rotates makes you completely disoriented. In a bit of time, our body responds the same way it does when we're reading stuff on a smartphone inside a bus," he wrote. 

Not everyone is affected that way, and some players don't notice anything untoward at all, he continued. But because "this is something that cannot be controlled or something you can just 'git gud and adapt' to," he called for it to be removed from competitive play rotation. Capcom obviously agrees with his assessment, and so his wish is granted. You can see the Skies of Honor stage in action below, courtesy of Eastyy's blogspot.

The Capcom Cup 2016 takes place over the weekend of December 3-4. Hit up our analysis of this year's competitors to find out who's coming to the party, and what we expect them to do when they get there.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.