Capcom and Virgin launch real-money Street Fighter IV multiplayer

Street Fighter IV has been added to Virgin Gaming’s real-money multiplayer roster.

PS3 and Xbox 360 players are now able to compete for cash via the service in 1v1 battles in 32-player leagues.

It involves a relatively convoluted process requiring use of both the Virgin website and in-game menu system, and results have to be manually uploaded (taking a picture with your cameraphone is recommended).

I’m proud to announce our partnership with Virgin Gaming, which will allow players to compete with one another for not only pride, but for money as well,” Capcom’s Peter Rosas wrote on the Capcom Unity website.

As a child of the arcade era, there was something special about each win I’d earn while on the Street Fighter II cabinet. Since each game was pay to play, every win felt that much more euphoric as I watched my defeated opponent have to pony up more money, whereas each loss stung that much more as I felt my pockets running out of coins.

Essentially something more than pride was on the line each game, and that made everyone play all that much harder. With the advent of free online play, it’s been difficult putting something on the line other than pride… until now.”