Throughout Summer Game Fest, Street Fighter 6 was standout with many in the fighting game community and other non-fighting game experts excited by the new features coming into the game. Following the reveal, a leak showing off artwork from the game spoiled who else will be part of the roster of fighters. One notable fighter that seems to be missing is Fei Long. According to reports, the reason that the character has been missing from the franchise was due to a clash with the Bruce Lee estate. The character is heavily inspired by Bruce Lee. During Summer Game Fest, Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama addressed the situation regarding the character.
Fei Long made his debut in the franchise in 1993 for Super Street Fighter 2 as one of four new challengers. This all started last month when Street Fighter 5 composer Daniel Lindholm theorized that the reason behind Fei Long’s exclusion from the series is due to the recent depictions of the character such as his appearance in Quentin Tarintino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Following his statement, Lindholm clarified that he was speaking on a hypothetical level about Fei Long, which is not fact.” The Bruce Lee Estate later set the record straight about whether or not they made an effort to stop featuring anything resembling Lee.
At Summer Game Fest, Nakayama said “The whole Bruce Lee estate information turned out to not be real. I can’t say whether he’s coming or not, but there’s definitely no legal issues.” Maybe Fei Long will appear in Street Fighter 6 in the future. It’s something we’ll just have to wait and see.
Street Fighter 6 is scheduled for release in Summer 2023.