It all started at this year's New York Comic-Con.
Street Fighter x Tekken (SFxT) producer, Yoshinori Ono, announced the release date (March 6, 2012) and special edition of the game in New York City. He also revealed the gem system which Capcom dubbed "revolutionary."
Confusion would follow the announcement almost immediately. Questions such as 'will the gems be DLC?' began to pop up. Capcom community manager Seth Killian answered some of those questions last Wednesday (Oct. 26). Still there was confusion among the SFxT community.
Here's what Killian had to say regarding the gem system controversy (via Gamasutra):
"It has gone in the way I was worried it might, with a lot of confusion. The original presentation, by opening the door, left more questions unanswered. I don't think there's any combination of gems which will help a weak player beat someone who's much stronger than them. Auto-block has, in particular, sent people into a tizzy because it's like, can't you just block everything? Well, yes, but it requires meter from your bar. You have the option to not choose any gems, if you want. The entire game is built around the gems, and there will be no 'No Gem' mode in the game"Killian also noted that Capcom does have tournament players in mind and have not overlooked them in the development of SFxT. He says the team is looking for "some balance that makes them happy as well."
The community manager at Capcom also realizes the importance of introducing a new concept with as much details as possible to avoid controversy. "It shows the value of when you have something to say it as completely and clearly as you can, especially if you're going in a new direction that hasn't been seen."