The messaging and communication have been on all over the place with the title.
"We want more casual gamers"
Launches with barely any training or casual friendly modes.
I love the game but Capcom's PR failed this game.
That I would agree with. SF is never going to be for casuals. The skill floor is just much higher than games like MKX. The time links for combos etc. are much harder to get down. There aren't easy stun moves like Scorpion's Spear or Minion Grab to guarantee combo starts etc. etc.
All they really did is make it
slightly more accessible than SFIV by moving links from 1 frame to 3 frames. So from 1/60th a second to 1/20th of a second. Easier, but still super tough for a casual to pick up.
Their messaging should have been more along the lines of wanting SFV to be the premier fighter for playing against others, locally or online, at all levels of competitiveness.
What they really need/want to do is get people playing MKX, Guilty Gear etc. against others to move to SFV. They clearly don't care much about people playing MKX just for the single player content, given the comparative lack of SP content SFV will have even after the updates come. And that's fine. They want people who are going to keep playing online and buying DLC more than those that buy for the SP and drop the game and never buy any DLC.
But they really botched the PR. They're not going for casuals. They're also not wanting to say it's just for the FGC. It's simply geared to people who want to at least put in some effort and get better playing against others. Not people who just like the SP content in games like MKX.