Month: February 2018

Lee Seon-woo, more commonly known as Infiltration, may be the hottest Street Fighter V player on the planet right now after his recent Evo Japan win. Now, it seems that he’s also become the game’s hottest free agent.

In a recent tweet, Infiltration has confirmed that he has left Team GRAPHT.

Hello guys, big announcement here.
Now i am no longer Team Grapht. Thanks for your help, i never forget i was part of amazing team!!!
Pls send questions to 85infiltration@gmail.com@TeamGRAPHT @TeamGRAPHT_en pic.twitter.com/99XMCgTF4E

— INFILTRATION (@INFILTRATION85) February 7, 2018

Infiltration joined Team GRAPHT late last year after a string of incredible performances, including winning at Manila Cup 2018 and placing top 8 in both the OzHadou Nationals and Celtic Throwdown. These, alongside his signing with Team GRAPHT, was seen by many as the start of his resurgence after his lackluster performances earlier in the year.

While Infiltration has now left the team, he still retains his sponsorship from Monster Energy. Meanwhile, Team GRAPHT still has a pretty impressive lineup of fighting game players including Joe “MOV” Egami, Leah “Gllty” Hayes, Keita “Fuudo” Ai, Tatsuya Haitani, and Atsushi “Yukadon” Fujimura.

We here at Shoryuken wish the best for both Infiltration and Team GRAPHT in all their future endeavours.

Source: Infiltration

The announcement of the games for Evo always tends to cause a lot of discussion within the fighting game community. While some players are happy that the game of their choice made it in, others are saddened that theirs did not (and a few even use it to disparage other players’ choice of games).

In a series of tweets, Mark “MarkMan” Julio, global head of business development for Evo, has shared a number of insights about the selection process for games at Evo. One of the biggest points that MarkMan addresses is how Evo has grown beyond just being a tournament series, and how it’s now become a place for fighting game companies to interact with their hardcore fans.

It’s become more than just a tournament series. The event has become the home for fighting game announcements, activations for upcoming games, a genuine place for game companies to interact with their hardcore fan base & potential reach more eyes than their marketing plans can.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

That said, he also addresses the fact that they do have to seek permission to get games onto the main roster, and that sometimes they don’t get it.

That being said, we have had meetings with some pubs/devs about including their title as a “main” game at Evo. You know what? We don’t get the blessing that we hope for sometimes. We actively have to seek permission and/or content licenses to be able to include certain games.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

MarkMan also addresses the fact that they can’t really host more than 8 to 9 games at Evo, and that as a result, some people will feel left out. He himself can relate, citing the times where he was frustrated that a Tekken title wasn’t included in the roster, and as such has extended an apology to players whose favorite games aren’t at Evo.

There are other examples but I want to also bring up that 8-9 games at Evo is reality. It’s very difficult to be able to put on that many games & showcase them in a good way over the course of 3 days. Someone is always going to feel slighted if their game isn’t treated some way.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

I DON’T BLAME YOU. We should be passionate about these that we love. I wanted to raise hell (initial feeling) whenever TEKKEN didn’t get the shine (in years prior) that I thought it deserved. So I want to apologize to all the communities feeling snubbed or disrespected.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

As part of this, he also states that they do try their best to provide a place for games that aren’t on the main roster — on either on the stage or on stream.

It is NOT the intention of the Evo brand to make your game feel inferior to others. The only thing I can promise you is that we will DO OUR BEST to make sure there is a place to showcase your game(s), via a stage and stream for Evo 2018.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He then states that he does hope to improve relations with other companies so that they can get better representation at Evo.

In the backend, I hope to improve relations with all fighting game companies so we can have better representation for all communities and fans. My personal take? I want MVC:I. I want KOF. I want KI. I want SG. I want POKKEN. I want ARMS. I want all fighting games at Evo.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He also reiterates just how important support from fighting game companies is in terms of “reaching that ideal.”

Without publisher/developer support it makes it harder for us to achieve that ideal… we already know we can do it with the fans/community, it’s been done for 20+ years. We want to EVOLVE it to something greater & we hope you see that perspective, even if you don’t agree with it

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

He ends his statements with a bit of thanks to both the people who attend Evo, and those like him who make it happen…

Thanks again everyone in the FGC that supports, attends & makes the Evo experience what it is. I promise that this year’s event will continue to focus on the celebration of fighting games & that future events will improve the delicate balance of community, game devs & viewership.

— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) February 7, 2018

This is just a selection of what he talks about; check out his complete statements over on Twitter.

Source: MarkMan (Twitter)