“Tut-tut, looks like piracy,” said Capcom, and summarily cancelled the PC version of Super Street Fighter IV.

So, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, but Capcom has confirmed that PC gamers won’t be getting Super Street Fighter IV on their platform of choice. This news comes roughly five months following the release of the game on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and over a year after the title’s predecessor, Street Fighter IV, saw a release on the PC.

The primary reason Super Street Fighter IV won’t see a release on PC? The rampant piracy that Capcom witnessed with regards to the release of Street Fighter IV on the platform, as gamers simply took to illegally obtaining a copy of the game rather than buy it.

In an interview with 4gamer.net, Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono said that while Street Fighter IV enjoyed a high profile amongst PC gamers as a result of the piracy, Capcom feels a need to protect the Street Fighter IV brand and not allow consumers to think of their games as ‘free’ on certain platforms.

Ono claimed that a port of Super Street Fighter IV to PC would be relatively painless, as the arcade version of the game runs on Taito’s DirectX-based Type X2 board, but only if Capcom are able to find a suitably powerful copy protection method will the company consider releasing the title on the platform.

Releasing through Steam only (Valve’s digital distribution platform) isn’t an option, says Ono, as this would be unfair to PC players who are unable to purchase and download games online (and would also dramatically cut down on potential sales).

Source: 4gamer.net via Gamasutra