Being a resident of a major American metropolis with you know, some people who are into arcades, I’ve gotten a chance to play Street Fighter IV – dare I say it – the way it was meant to be played. On a big ol’ cabinet with quarters lined up along the bottom of the screen, huddled up next to a crowd of fellow fighting game fanboys, getting my ass kicked by some quiet dude beasting with Blanka.

I should count myself lucky, and I do. Street Fighter IV won’t be coming to US arcades in any official capacity. No surprise to anyone, but Capcom just set it in stone. Capcom senior director of communications and community Chris Kramer explained:

At this point, it does not look like Street Fighter IV arcade machines will officially hit the U.S. arcade market… There’s not really an arcade business in the U.S. anymore. It’s sort of like an ‘amusement’ business that sometimes has arcade games in it

Arcades can always import it if they want to front the costs – that’s what my place did, but with the console version out in a couple months, why would you expect them to?

Source: EDGE via Joystiq