Capcom blames Sony for lack of visible alternate SSFIV costumes on PS3

Capcom has said the reason Super Street Fighter IV players on PS3 can't see alternate costumes downloaded and worn by opponents is all down to Sony.

According to Capcom community manager Seth Killian, the reason Xbox 360 players can see the alternate costumes on opponents even when the player hasn't downloaded the attire themselves, is because Microsoft covers the cost of making additional data available to users whereas Sony doesn't.

"The DLC for the newest costumes is additional data that must be put on your machines from the first-party networks (XBL and PSN)," wrote Killian wrote on Capcom's forums.

"When you add new data to an existing product, there are significant costs to do so charged by the first parties. On XBL, those costs were covered by Microsoft. As a result, the data is distributed to everyone, so even if you have not bought the new costumes, you can still see them if you're fighting against someone that has because you still received the new data required to display them.

"For Sony, those significant costs are not covered. As a result, you only get the new costume data when you actually buy the costumes. Those that don't buy the costumes can't see them, because the new costume data isn't present on your machine, and so you only see costumes you already have the data to represent.

"The story is a bit more complicated because the costs of adding new data vary by region in some cases, and some additions are free, or free within a certain timeframe, etc., but the bottom line in this particular case is that Sony would [have] charged Capcom significant fees for distributing the new costume data to users that hadn't actually bought the DLC. Microsoft covered those costs, so the costume data is visible to all there."

So, basically, what this means is that if you're buying the alternate costumes just to show-off on PS3, it won't do you any good. Blame Sony.