PC players get free week in Street Fighter V

The Capcom Fighters Network is being tested at the same time.

Capcom has announced that PC players will get a free week in Street Fighter V to see several of the new features and enhancements that are a part of the game's new online experience, Capcom Fighters Network (CFN).

The offer with begin at 21:00 GMT on March 28 and run until April 3 at 20:00 GMT, with the trial limited to Steam users. All characters will be available in this free period, including brand new fighter Kolin, and the subsequent feedback will be used to optimise CFN for a release on PC and PS4.

A whole host of matchmaking improvements should be coming with CFN, including taking less time to find opponents, and new matchmaking logic to help players avoid being matched with the same opponent frequently. There will also be a short transition between going into Ranked or Casual matches.

An interactive timeline will also be featured with CFN's home menu, which is "a live feed of Friends' activities" where players can "add a recent match to their Replay List, view a Fighter Profile, manage Friends, and adjust Timeline display settings." Players can now also blacklist players or add them as friends and follow them via CFN.

"Special "rage quit" player profile icons will appear on profiles with frequent disconnections" now too, and the same matchmaking logic will take into account frequent disconnections and online behaviour to match players with similar opponents.

Other features included training settings carrying over to next time it's used, country flags appearing in battle lounges, filtering leaderboards based on country or league, and in-game announcers using player stats from the server.

Can the CFN revitalise the online experience for Street Fighter V?