One feature that will not be making it into the March update will be the Zenny (real money) functionality of the in-game shop. We have taken a long hard look at this part of the store, and after much review, have decided it is not ready to launch just yet. As Zenny is purchased with real money, we wanted to be extra careful and make sure it’s fully tested and optimized before launching it. There is currently no ETA on the Zenny store and we will release it as soon as it’s ready.
We realize that this causes an inconvenience to fans who want to purchase the DLC characters, such as Alex, but do not have enough Fight Money or own the Season Pass. To address this, we will be making Alex available for free as a trial period to all players, until the Zenny shop launches. This also will apply to any future DLC character that releases prior to the Zenny shop launching. Once the Zenny shop launches, the free trial for any DLC characters that released prior to the Zenny shop opening will end, and players will need to either use Fight Money, Zenny, or the Season Pass to access those characters.
Any DLC character related content (such as costumes) that is purchased with Fight Money during the trial period will remain in your account once the trial period ends, but you’ll need to purchase Alex to use that content. The same goes for colors and character progress, etc. that are earned during the trial period; everything will be saved, you’ll just need to purchase the character to resume your progress once the trial period ends.
As a special bonus to our Season Pass users, they will be the only ones who will be able to access the premium costumes of the DLC characters until the Zenny shop launches, and they also get to keep character access once the free trial period ends. Additionally, we will be giving all Season Pass users a free, brand new stage in the near future!
Finally, as a way of saying thanks for everyone’s patience and understanding throughout the beta phases and game launch we will be making Ryu and Chun-Li’s story mode costumes available for free to all users on March 30 as well. This is an 80,000 Fight Money value, almost the full value of a DLC character.
http://www.capcom-unity.com/haunts/blog/2016/03/24/sfv-march-update---release-date-and-new-details