Fighting game community

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The fighting game community, often abbreviated to FGC, is a collective of video gamers who play fighting games such as Marvel vs. Capcom , Mortal Kombat , Soulcalibur , Street Fighter , Guilty Gear , The King of Fighters , Blazblue , Super Smash Bros. , Tekken , Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. , Dead or Alive , Samurai Shodown , Shadow Fight 2 and many others. The fighting game community started out small in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s referred to as the grassroots era, but it has grown to a larger scale in the 2010s, with many tournaments being held around the world. This is predominantly due to the rise of esports, online gaming, and digitized viewing habits on live streaming sites such as Twitch.

Contents

History

The Chinatown Fair arcade was one of the early venues where a competitive fighting game scene coalesced. Chinatown Fair storefront.jpg
The Chinatown Fair arcade was one of the early venues where a competitive fighting game scene coalesced.

Beginnings

The game Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was a huge success when it was released in 1991 and is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time. [1] [2] [3] It refined and popularized the fighting game genre and introduced many now-staples of the genre, such as combos and character selection but most notably, it allowed players to directly compete by fighting against each other in the game, while earlier games primarily had players compete by comparing highscores. [4] During the mid-1990s, a Street Fighter II tournament scene had coalesced in various cities across the United States. Highly competitive communities formed naturally in Chinatown Fair in New York City, Super Just Games in the Chicago area, and the Golfland arcade halls in Sunnyvale and Stanton, California. Players had also began finding each other and discussing strategies on message boards via the internet. In 1996, the first nation-wide fighting game tournament was held in the form of B3: Battle by the Bay. This tournament was conceived in order to quell debate over who was the best Street Fighter player in the country, but also attracted international competitors. [5] In London, England most arcades would have had Street Fighter II, including in the basement of Hamleys [6] and more competitive venues like Casino Leisure Centre. [7] Soon an eight-player Tournament Battle edition of Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers appeared on the scene [8] [9] - but the first known official tournament occurred in 1994 at Trocadero on the sequel Super Street Fighter II Turbo. [10]

2000–2009: early years

In early 2000, a forum was created called Shoryuken.com which was named after the iconic Street Fighter attack. The site became the main go to forum for many fighting game competitors and it quickly attracted the community to create major tournaments to gather the best players from around the country. One of the most major tournaments that gathers players from around the world is called the Evolution Championship Series (Evo). The rise in competitive video game genres during the 2000s became a phenomenon known as "Esports". The early 2000s also saw the rise in online gaming, as in 2004, Mortal Kombat: Deception , Dead or Alive Ultimate , and the Xbox version of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection became the first fighting games to offer online multiplayer, which also contributed in growing the community. In middle of the 2000s Capcom's popularity began to fade due to lack of new fighting games, the overall sales of the genre, and some problems within the community; though it could be noted that the lack of a new street fighter game created a popularity vacuum, in which games like Tekken, Soulcaliber, Dead or Alive, and Virtua Fighter increased in popularity.[ citation needed ]

It was not until 2007 that a new spark arose in the fighting game community. Dead or Alive 4 was included in the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) in 2007 and 2008, becoming the first fighting game to have a televised esport event. Dead or Alive 4 was the only fighting game included in the esport league and was operated and fully broadcast by DirecTV in association with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and STAR TV. [11] [12] [13] After nearly a decade without an entry, Capcom announced the continuation of the mainline Street Fighter series with the development of Street Fighter IV , following up Street Fighter III: Third Strike after eight years. The game was acclaimed by major game review outlets [14] and is seen as the chief catalyst of the revival of the FGC. By rejuvenating the popularity of fighting games, its release also created an influx of new players into the community, increasing the number of competitors and introducing legendary players such as SonicFox, Momochi, Snake Eyez, GamerBee, and others.

2010–current

Evo 2016 Street Fighter V finals held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Evo 2016 - Mandalay Bay.jpg
Evo 2016 Street Fighter V finals held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas

After the success of Street Fighter IV, new fighting games began being developed and the FGC expanded with more tournaments. The tournaments even started being live-streamed with Twitch so many people can view the tournaments. There are also sponsor-ships from franchises like Evil Geniuses, Broken Tier, [15] and Mad Catz, [16] which pays players for free advertisement.

Despite the rise of other competitive video game genres, many members of the FGC have rejected the label of "Esports" on their community. [17]

The overall size of the community remains a very small proportion of the fighting game market overall. Some of the genre's biggest selling games, such as Tekken 5 , [18] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [19] and Mortal Kombat X , [20] have sold in excess of 5 million copies. In contrast, the same games might only attract 1,000–2,000 entrants at a large tournament. [21] [22] Typically some 20–30% of players fight online. [lower-alpha 1]

In recent years, the FGC has been rocked by numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations involving legal proceedings, including those of some of the FGC's most prominent organizers like Evo co-founder and organizer, Joey Cuellar, [23] and some of the FGC's most prominent Smash Bros players. [24] [25] [26] [27]

In 2020, the Japan Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable was announced where game development heads for Dead or Alive , Fighting EX Layer , Guilty Gear , Samurai Showdown , Soulcalibur , Street Fighter and Tekken , came together for a livestreamed discussion on the future of fighting games and other topics. [28] The event later followed with more developers, such as the developers for The King of Fighters in 2021, [29] and Virtua Fighter in 2022. [30]

Culture

In a 2014 article on the racial diversity of fighting game competitions, mainly the Evo tournament series, Mitch Bowman of Polygon wrote about "How the FGC's roots grew the most racially diverse community in gaming." [31]

A highly publicized incident of sexism occurred in 2012 at a U.S. tournament, when Street Fighter x Tekken player Aris Bakhtanians made comments about a female player's bra size and other sexist remarks, leading the woman to drop out of the event. [32] [33] [34] Later, during an interview with Twitch he is quoted as saying that "sexual harassment is part of a culture, and if you remove that from the fighting game community, it's not the fighting game community." He later apologized for his comments. [33] [34] [35]

Tournaments

DreamHack Montreal was part of the 2018 Capcom Pro Tour. Capcom Pro Tour 2018 - DreamHack Montreal 2018 - 33.jpg
DreamHack Montreal was part of the 2018 Capcom Pro Tour.

Hundreds of online and offline tournaments are held worldwide every year, ranging anywhere in size from less than ten to over 10,000 entrants, [lower-alpha 2] depending on the location, entry fee, prize pot, and game or range of games available. Tournaments are typically run through grassroots community efforts, although an increasing number of tournaments are being sponsored by stakeholders like Capcom, Twitch, Red Bull, and Nintendo. [ citation needed ]

Examples of large fighting game tournaments and tournament series include:

Notes

  1. ↑ Data from server logs, for example, 20% of Street Fighter IV players acquire the trophy for playing an online match on the PlayStation 3
  2. ↑ Roughly 11,000 competitors registered to compete at Evo 2018, according to Dot Esports . [36]

Related Research Articles

A fighting game is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more characters. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into "combos". Characters generally engage in battle using hand-to-hand combat—often some form of martial arts. The fighting game genre is related to, but distinct from, the beat 'em up genre, which pits large numbers of computer-controlled enemies against one or more player characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evolution Championship Series</span> Annual United States fighting game tournament

The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an American annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, most notably from Japan. The first Evolution was originally held as a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament called the Battle by the Bay. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the Las Vegas Valley since 2005. As of 2021, the event is jointly owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and the Endeavor esports venture RTS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capcom Cup</span> Annual esports tournament

Capcom Cup is an annual fighting game tournament specifically focused on the Street Fighter series. The event's first incarnation was in 2013 which featured Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition version 2012, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Street Fighter X Tekken version 2013 as the three main games each with 8 qualifiers. In 2014, Capcom Cup was an Ultra Street Fighter IV exclusive tournament with 16 qualifiers. The 2015 Capcom Cup was doubled to a 32-man format and was later increased to a 48-man format beginning with Capcom Cup IX in 2022–23. The series of qualifying events for the tournament are known as the Capcom Pro Tour and include many of the largest, most prestigious pre-existing fighting game tournaments such as Evolution Championship Series and DreamHack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Infiltration (gamer)</span> South Korean gamer (born 1984/1985)

Lee Seon-woo, known as Infiltration, is a professional esports player from Seoul, South Korea, specializing in fighting games. Lee is a six-time Evolution Championship Series (EVO) champion; winning Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition v2012 in 2012, Street Fighter X Tekken in 2012 and 2013, Street Fighter V in 2016 and 2018 and Samurai Shodown in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Valle</span> Peruvian-American professional esports player

Alex Valle, also known as CaliPower and Mr. Street Fighter, is a Peruvian-American professional fighting game player. Valle is mainly a Ryu specialist and is considered one of the most influential people within the fighting game community.

The 2016 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 15–17. Being hosted on the twentieth anniversary of the Evolution Championship Series, the event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pokkén Tournament. Participation reached record-breaking numbers, with over 5,000 people registering for the Street Fighter competition alone. 2016 was the first time the Evo Grand Finals were held in an arena and were broadcast by ESPN2 in addition to Twitch.

The 2015 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community Effort Orlando</span> Annual fighting game event

Community Effort Orlando is an annual fighting game event held in Daytona Beach, Florida. Prior to 2018, CEO was held in Orlando, Florida. Introduced in 2010 and organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known for its strong ties to the fighting game community. Fighting game players compete in a wrestling ring during the event's tournaments, and CEO has been a mainstay of the Capcom Pro Tour since its establishment in 2014. An annual side-event titled CEOtaku was initiated in 2015.

The 2014 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in at Westgate Las Vegas on July 11–13. The event featured a major tournament for eight fighting games, including Ultra Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. The event was part of the first Capcom Pro Tour.

The 2013 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held at Paris Las Vegas on July 12–14. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Injustice: Gods Among Us. The event's Super Smash Bros. Melee livestream was controversially blocked by Nintendo of America, though the company decided to allow the tournament to be streamed after being faced with community backlash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tokido</span> Japanese computer games player

Hajime Taniguchi, better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player who plays the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises. He is known for playing multiple fighting games on a competitive level in addition to Street Fighter, including Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom 3, and BlazBlue. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later. Tokido has had 19+ Evolution top 8 finishes in 9 different games across 15 years, a feat surpassed only by Justin Wong.

The 2012 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas on July 6–8. The event featured a major tournament for six fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as well as various smaller-scale competitions.

The Canada Cup is an annual Canadian fighting game event founded and organized by Lap Chi Duong. The event was launched as the Calgary Cup in 2009 and was initially held in Calgary, Alberta, but the tournament moved to Toronto, Ontario shortly after, returning to Calgary every few years. The Canada Cup is a major Street Fighter tournament, generally being the final event in the annual Capcom Pro Tour.

The 2017 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Injustice 2. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Tekken 7 receiving double the number of players from the previous year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VSFighting</span> Annual esports tournament series

VSFighting is a tournament series of annual esports events that focuses on competitive fighting games. The tournament is open to all. VSF is the flagship tournament to Electronic Dojo, a fighting games community based in the West Midlands, UK.

The 2018 Japanese Evolution Championship Series, commonly referred to as Evo Japan 2018, was a fighting game event held in Tokyo, Japan on January 26–28. As mentioned in its namesake, the event was the first Evo event to take place in Japan and outside of the United States. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Over 5,000 people registered for the event with Street Fighter V and Tekken 7's entrant numbers being on par with their respective Evo 2017 numbers.

The 2018 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on August 3 to 5 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Dragon Ball FighterZ receiving the most entrants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Hart</span> British fighting game player

Ryan Joseph Hart, also known as Prodigal Son, Tsuujin, Robotnik, The Terminator and NeriahSensei, is a British professional fighting game player. He specialises in 2D and 3D fighter games released by Capcom, Bandai Namco, Sega, Midway, NetherRealm Studios and SNK. Ryan holds numerous National, European and World titles and has won the Evolution Championships twice. Hart also holds four world records within the Guinness World Record's for most international Street Fighter competition wins, most well-travelled fighting game champion, the longest winning streak on Street Fighter IV, and the most consecutive opponents on Street Fighter V. While Hart is predominantly known for his professional gaming career, he is also a commentator, tournament organiser, author, presenter, event host, model, translator and content creator.

The 2020 Evolution Championship Series was a planned fighting game event. While a physical event was to have been in Las Vegas from July 31 to August 2, 2020, as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizations cancelled the physical event, and instead planned a series of online events running from July 4 to August 2, 2020. The online event was later cancelled due to sexual misconduct allegations against organizer and co-founder Joey Cuellar.

The 2022 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas from August 5 to 7, 2022 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, as well as the newly released Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Granblue Fantasy Versus and The King of Fighters XV. It also marks the first time that Skullgirls was a main event game 10 years after its release. This is the first tournament held in-person since 2019. This is the first tournament sponsored under the co-sponsors Sony Corporation and Pokimane-led RTS.

References

  1. ↑ Patterson, Eric L. (November 3, 2011). "EGM Feature: The 5 Most Influential Japanese Games Day Four: Street Fighter II". Electronic Gaming Monthly . Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Street Fighter II". The Essential 50. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  3. ↑ Matt Barton; Bill Loguidice (2009). Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time. Boston: Focal Press/Elsevier. pp. 239–255. ISBN   978-0-240-81146-8 . Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Street Fighter II Influence". Archived from the original on 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
  5. ↑ Learned, John (2017-07-17). "The Oral History of EVO: The Story of the World's Largest Fighting Game Tournament". USGamer .
  6. ↑ Goldwater, Mike. "A teenage boy plays Mad Dogs 2, a virtual reality interactive shooting game at Hamleys toy shop, London England 08 93 Stock Photo". Alamy. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  7. ↑ "London Arcade Rapport I". Det Nye COMputer (11): 12–14. November 25, 1992.
  8. ↑ "Arcade Action" (PDF). Computer and Video Games (145): 112–4. December 1993.
  9. ↑ Super Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle at Casino, London. Games World. 1993. Retrieved 2024-06-03– via YouTube.
  10. ↑ Hart, Ryan (2016). "RYANS FIRST TOURNAMENT". RYAN HART WIKI BRIEF. Retrieved 2024-06-03– via web.archive.org.
  11. ↑ CNBC Archived July 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Champion Gaming Series Games". Championship Gaming Series. Archived from the original on 2007-10-07. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  13. ↑ "CHAMPIONSHIP GAMING SERIES: A CONCEPT "AHEAD OF ITS TIME"". Hotspawn. Lawrence "Malystryx" Phillips. 8 January 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  14. ↑ Reviews of Street Fighter IV:
  15. ↑ "Broken Tier Sponsored Players". Broken Tier.
  16. ↑ "Mad Catz Players". mascatz.
  17. ↑ "The PA Report – Why the fighting game community hates the word "Esports"". 26 August 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-08-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  18. ↑ "Tekken 6 – Entrevista". Vandal. 2009-07-26. Archived from the original on 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-27.
  19. ↑ "Top Selling Software Sales Units – Switch Software". Nintendo. September 30, 2016. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  20. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor. "Batman: Arkham Knight, Mortal Kombat X Sell 5 Million Each Worldwide, Report Says". gamespot.com. GameSpot. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  21. ↑ Walker, Ian. "Smash 4, Melee, and Street Fighter numbers are ridiculous". shoryuken.com. Shoryuken. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  22. ↑ Macone, John (21 June 2015). "Ultra Street Fighter IV surpasses 2,000 entrants at EVO 2015". eventhubs.com. Eventhubs. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  23. ↑ Minotti, Mike (2020-07-02). "Evo 2020 cancelled in wake of sexual abuse allegations (Updated)". VB. Venture Beat. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  24. ↑ "Nintendo condemns alleged abuse in Smash Bros. – BBC" . Retrieved 22 April 2021.[ permanent dead link ]
  25. ↑ "Sexual abuse allegations surface in fighting game community". ESPN.com. 2 July 2020.
  26. ↑ "Multiple Sexual Misconduct Allegations Rock the Fighting Game Community Following Evo 2019". IGN Nordic. 13 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "Over 50 sexual misconduct allegations have the Super Smash Bros. community in turmoil". Kotaku. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  28. ↑ Steiner, Dustin (30 July 2020). "Fighting Game Publishers Roundtable Announced to Discuss Future of Fighters, FGC". Esports Talk. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  29. ↑ Moyse, Chris (12 February 2021). "Second Japan Fighting Game Publisher Roundtable set for February 21". Destructoid . Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  30. ↑ Michael, Cale (28 March 2022). "The ongoing skepticism of free-to-play models in fighting game development". Dot Esports . Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  31. ↑ Bowman, Mitch (6 February 2014). "Why the fighting game community is color blind". Polygon .
  32. ↑ Mark Graham; William H. Dutton, eds. (2014). Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing Our Lives. p. 92.
  33. 1 2 "Is pervasive sexism holding the professional fighting game community back?". Ars Technica. February 29, 2012.
  34. 1 2 "This Woman Is Fighting Sexist Gamers Because They Obviously Suck". 20 March 2015.
  35. ↑ Casey Johnston (18 February 2014). "Women are gamers, but largely absent from "e-sports"". Ars Technica. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  36. ↑ Newell, Adam (21 July 2018). "Dragon Ball FighterZ tops EVO 2018 entry numbers". Dot Esports . Retrieved 4 September 2022.

Bibliography

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