Street Fighter 6 received its long-awaited yearly balance update on 3 August, alongside the release of new character Yasmine, but the patch has drawn strong criticism from players. The update leaves the game's most contentious systems, Drive Rush and throw loops, unchanged despite years of complaints, while making roster balance changes many consider inconsistent or misguided.

Ryu, already a top-tier character, was further buffed, including improvements to his Solar Plexus Strike, while widely disliked character M. Bison also received buffs. Meanwhile, other strong characters such as Ed and Mai appear to have been heavily nerfed, and most of the rest of the cast saw only minor tweaks. Some fans fear the lacklustre update could push players towards rival fighting games such as Avatar Legends and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, though Yasmine's debut, a Filipino fighter with a stylish moveset, has been well received.