- Primary Subject: Tifa's Crossover
- Key Update: Square Enix prioritized Street Fighter 6 for Tifa's crossover due to its massive popularity in Japan and strategic partnership with Capcom.
- Status: Published
- Last Verified: 2026-06-06
- Quick Answer: Tifa Lockhart was added to Street Fighter 6 instead of other games because Square Enix valued the partnership with Capcom and Street Fighter
How did Tifa end up in Street Fighter 6 of all places instead of Fortnite or maybe another fighting game like Tekken 8? Game director Naoki Hamaguchi may have revealed some key information about their decision to include her in Capcom's fighting game.
In an interview with content creator Maximilian Dood, game director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed that Square Enix received a ton of offers to get Tifa in other IPs. "She was in demand."
As for why they landed on Street Fighter, Hamaguchi said: "We feel that Tifa is so beloved and in that sense we didn't want to give her away so easily. But this kind of opportunity came to us at such great timing, to work together with Capcom."
To understand why Square chose Capcom and Street Fighter, it is worth noting that SF6 is basically a cultural phenomenon in Japan. Packed venues to watch the Capcom Cup, thousands of players enjoying the game, which just recently broke their peak concurrent player count on Steam with the release of Ingrid.
This isn't the first time Square has prepared some kind of crossover to promote Final Fantasy VII titles. In 2024, ahead of Rebirth's launch, Square and Respawn partnered to bring FFVII cosmetics to Apex Legends, with skins for characters and even the Buster Sword as a Heirloom.
Tifa being in Street Fighter 6 feels like a much bigger deal, however, as the fighting game community, particularly the Tekken side, had been pleading for her to join the ranks for decades at this point.
Hamaguchi confirming that plenty of companies wanted to add Tifa to their games might give us a hint at the fact that Bandai could've possibly reached out, but Square opted to go for Street Fighter due to the game's massive popularity in Japan, which completely dwarfs that of Tekken's.
And that's it. Stick with us at Gfinityesports.com: your go-to source for all things Final Fantasy.