Absolute Battle 7 Streaming Live from Plano, Texas

This weekend is the seventh edition of Absolute Battle, brought to you by Versus Gameplay. Over the years Absolute Battle has established itself as one of the major events for Texas and the surrounded areas. This year’s event includes Dead or Alive 5 Last Round, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Killer Instinct, The King of Fighters XIV, Mortal Kombat XL, Pokkén Tournament, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The SFV tourney is a Capcom Pro Tour ranking event for North America, while the KI tourney is a KI World Cup qualifier.

Some high-quality players will be looking to claim the glory in Plano. EG|Justin Wong, EG|Ricki Ortiz, Liquid|NuckleDu, RB|Snake Eyez, TS|Sabin, Circa|LPN, F3|alucarD, Hsien Chang, fubarduck, Hamad, PIE|Smug, PG|FChamp, VG|Integra, Rylander, BoTB|Vagabond, AfroCole, DotEsports|Danke and DL|FourWude are just a sample of the talent competing.

Streams

AB7 will be brought to you live by PandaxGaming, Salty Mayhem and Tourney Locator. As usual PxG will be hosting its popular exhibition series Ultra Fight Night at the event.

Check out the streams below and follow the brackets on Challonge.

PandaxGaming

Watch live video from PandaxGaming on www.twitch.tv

SaltyMayhem

Watch live video from SaltyMayhem on www.twitch.tv

TourneyLocator

Watch live video from TourneyLocator on www.twitch.tv

Schedule

All times in CDT (UTC -5).

Friday, August 26

AB7_Schedule-Fri

Saturday, August 27

AB7_ScheduleSat

Sunday, August 28

AB7_ScheduleSun

Sources: Absolute Battle, Capcom Pro Tour

Keep Burning to Fight with This King of Fighters XIV Roundup: Hein, Mature, Terry, Mian, Alice, and More K’ Combos

So, turns out The King of Fighters XIV netplay is a bit iffy–but that shouldn’t keep dedicated King of Fighters fans from burning to fight, either in local battles, or in in the reputedly more stable Party Mode (see below). We’ve provided one KOFXIV combo roundup already; here’s some more combos and option selects from the community to improve your game and inspire you to keep fighting!

Persona Entertainment serves up this selection of classy Hein combos:

TheConan1234321 put together this video exploring Mature’s moves and their properties:

Here’s some Terry safejumps and options selects, courtesy of SnowMonkeySoFunky:

Dusty C brings us these combos for the unusual fighter Mian:

DarkWingZEROX offers up some more stylish combos for K’:

Antinomy, provider of this handy KOFXIV fighter selection infographic, has also been posting combo videos to Twitter; here’s a few for newcomer Alice:

To close, VesperArcade has offered some possible workarounds to help deal with poor online connections; most specifically reporting that Party Mode is much more stable than other online modes.

Thanks to everyone that sent in KOFXIV tips!

Sources: Persona Entertainment; TheConan1234321; SnowMonkeySoFunky; Dusty C; DarkWingZEROX; Antinomy (Twitter); VesperArcade

OzHadou Nationals 14 Streaming Live from Sydney, Australia

One of Australia’s longest running tournament series is going down this weekend. While the official tournament line-up up consists of six titles –Mortal Kombat X, Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Tekken 7, and Virtual Fighter 5 Final Showdown– OzHadou will also feature a number of community-run as well, including Guilty Gear Xrd, The King of Fighters XIV, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and more. The SFV competition is a Capcom Pro Tour ranking event, meaning ranking points for top placers and a spot in the Asia-Oceania regional finals for the winner.

Some of the players set to compete in Sydney include Daigo Umehara, Itabashi Zangief, GamerBee, Humanbomb, Dark Jiewa, K-Brad, Somniac and BurnoutFighter. Check out the many streams for the event below and follow the brackets on Challonge.

Streams

OzHadou (Main Stream, SFV)

Watch live video from OzHadou on www.twitch.tv

Yiggs_AU (Tekken Pools)

Watch live video from yiggs_au on www.twitch.tv

Glibagz (VF5, MKX Pools)

Watch live video from Gilbagz on www.twitch.tv

SydneySmash (Super Smash Bros.)

Watch live video from SydneySmash on www.twitch.tv

SydneySmash2 (Super Smash Bros.)

Watch live video from SydneySmash2 on www.twitch.tv

Megadarve (GGXrdR, KOF)

Watch live video from Megadarve on www.twitch.tv

Gamrah (3rd Strike, Super Turbo)

Watch live video from Gamrah on www.twitch.tv

Schedule

All times in AEST (UTC +10).

ohn14-sched-sat

ohn14-sched-sun

Sources: OzHadou, Capcom Pro Tour

Prepare for Leffen’s Return as Red Bull Releases Their Debut Trailer for Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection

It is almost time for the Godslayer to return, and Red Bull wants everyone to know it. As part of their ongoing Cultivation documentary series, Red Bull has releases the debut trailer for Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection, charting William “Leffen” Hjelte’s rise to prominence and recent struggles. While on track to possibly become the best Super Smash Bros. Melee player in the world by toppling the Five Gods of Melee, disaster struck as Leffen was rejected at the US border on his way to The Big House 5. From then on, he has been unable to attend US tournaments and continue his momentous rise to the top of the Melee hierarchy.

With his visa currently being processed, it is only a matter of time until the Godslayer returns to make some heads roll. The first episode of Cultivation Leffen: Resurrection will air on Red Bull TV on August 31st, with episodes airing every week until the final sixth episode on October 5th. The documentary won’t just focus on Leffen’s placements in Smash, but his relationship with other players and his life outside of the game. Check out the debut trailer below and watch the previous series of Cultivation, which followed master Zangief Snake Eyez, on Red Bull TV.

Source: Red Bull eSports

BigBoysToys’ New Blanka Figurine Rolls Out This October

As shown previously, BigBoysToys is adding some new characters to their line of classic Street Fighter II figurines; it looks like the first of the three to join the fight will be Blanka, now available for preorder through toy import sites such as CD Japan, PLAY-ASIA, or the Japanese Amazon site, rolling toward an October 2016 release.

This cartoony-but-fierce rendition of Blanka features its own background setting based on Blanka’s own SFII Brazil stage, and light and sound effects similar to the previous BigBoysToys SFII figurines.

Click to view slideshow.

Bringing T.N.C-05 Blanka home will cost you between ¥12,000 to ¥13,000 (approximately $110 USD) plus shipping through these retailers.

Sources: CD Japan; PLAY-ASIA; Amazon.co.jp

Become an Honorary Panda Global Player for The Big House 6 by Winning the Key to the PG House Online Qualifier

With the recent success of the Road to Shine Online Qualifier for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Panda Global have created their own online tournament series in partnership with smash.gg, designed to get players from North America and Europe to The Big House 6. Named “Key to the PG House,” the winner from Europe and the winner from North America will be an honorary Panda Global member over the course of The Big House 6, gaining access to the Panda Global training house to play with other top level Smashers. They will gain complimentary flights and entry to The Big House 6, along with a Panda Global hoodie and t-shirt, as well as a custom made smash.gg hoodie with their gamertag on the back.

As with the Road to Shine Qualifier, entrants to Key to the PG House will require an Internet connection with at least 5Mbps upload & 15Mbps download in order to compete. For the North American qualifier, players from the USA, Mexico and Canada can compete while for the European qualifier, any player from an EU nation can qualify. (Don’t worry UK players, you’re still eligible to enter.) If for any reason players are unable to attend due to visa issues or prior school or personal commitments, the first place prize will go to the next qualified entrant in top 8.

There will be four qualifiers for both regions, leading to a top 128 final where the winner will be decided. The US qualifiers start on Thursday the 8th of September at 5pm PST. These qualifiers will run until Sunday the 11th, where the final 128 will be held at 3pm PDT. As for Europe, due to the initial schedule clashing with Syndicate– Europe’s biggest Smash 4 tournament– their qualifiers have been shifted to a week later, starting on Thursday the 15th at 5pm BST, with the final 128 happening on Sunday the 18th. Each qualifier will be capped at 768 and they will not be reseeded. If you go into Losers’ early, prepare for a long road out. Both top 128 will be streamed over on the Panda Global Twitch channel, should you wish to tune in and see how each region fares.

For all the information regarding rules and prizes, check out the official smash.gg page. Hopefully, these qualifiers will become a regular occurrence for majors, as it does open the way for lesser known players from other regions to get a shot at the big time, without the risk of forking out hundreds on flights and lodging.

Sources: Panda Global; smash.gg

See What the Rest of Street Fighter V’s Core Cast is Up To with More CFN Fighter Profiles

After profiling the first half of Street Fighter V’s playable cast, the CFN Portal has moved on to the remainder of the initial 16 characters that have been available since the game’s launch in this next set of profiles.

Many seemed surprised at the lack of Necalli’s impact in the Cinematic Story Mode expansion after he was hyped up to be a new opponent for Ryu, who had even caught the interest of M. Bison, according to the ancient prophecy fortold by the Warrior Prophet before his consumption. However, Capcom has decided to shine more light on the “Soul Consuming Darkness” in his profile, noting that he subconsciously corrupts those whom he encounters–who will eventually follow his path, and begin hunting for strong souls that they too may devour-our-our. When the “Hour of the Battle” draws near, he will begin to move into areas where he can sense many battles taking place, in order to consume many powerful souls. As they have done previously with Akuma and Evil Ryu, the Shadaloo Soldiers wonder if Necalli’s wild, barbaric, fighting style is somehow connected to the Murderous Intent of the Satsui no Hado. In his win quote to Ryu, Necalli states that “I can he…hear it. The endless killing intent, must consume…” He even warns M. Bison that, in regards to his Psycho Power, “There is nothing I cannot consume. I will co-consume all.” We also learn that while he can speak normal human speech and languages (albeit with a degree of difficulty, as seen in his win quotes), when he truly loses himself to his natural power his true strength and horror are enough to speak for him. In fact, just the act of witnessing Necalli “eating” a soul is enough to leave a person completely frozen with fear.

Necalli Official Character Art
Necalli Character Story Art 1
Necalli Character Story Art 2/Tue Form

While she hasn’t been seen since Capcom Fighting Evolution all the way back in 2004, the “Perfect Victor,” Karin Kanzuki makes a grand return to Street Fighter V. Viewing Shadaloo’s latest machinations of the Black Moon Plan to be a threat to the her Kanzuki Zaibatsu–as well as the entire world–she begins to gather the World Warriors at the Kanzuki Estate to launch an attack on the organization’s base during the course of the Cinematic Story Mode Expansion. Still maintaining her family’s pride as a Martial Artist and continuing to carry on the Kanzuki motto of “be the winner in everything,” she tends to declare herself the victor of her battles in advance. Her natural haughtiness may be seen by some as an irreverent attitude–but that does not mean she isn’t an important person.

Karin Official SFV Character Art
Character Story Art 1
Character Story Art 2

Her profile also shines the spotlight on her “Super Butler” Shibasaki. Karin employs him for a wide variety of duties, ranging from data analysis to being a personal assistant. He’s also a solid fighter himself, as shown in Karin’s Character Story prologue, where he fights off a horde of lower-ranked Shadaloo Soldiers.

Basic Information:

Name: Shibasaki
Height: 178cm
Weight: 75kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: 7th of May
Country of origin: Japan
Likes: Black tea, young lady Karin
Dislikes: People with poor table manners

The CFN Portal has included both an image of him in both his business suit, as well as his casual attire, sipping on a cup of black tea. He is always acting together with the young “princess” Karin, and has learned a great deal of things from the Legendary Butler Azam–and is considered to be the “Rising Star” of the butler world.

Shibazaki Business Attire
Sibazaki Casual Attire Drinking Black Tea

Next up is “The Headbutt-Happy Glutton,” Birdie, who is also returning from the Alpha Series, as well as currently mooching at the Kanzuki Estate! After previously covering Birdie’s original incarnation, this Profile concerns his current state as of the timeline of Street Fighter V. Besides getting fatter, he doesn’t seem to have changed much at all. However, the CFN Portal did provide us with some new art pieces for your viewing pleasure.

Birdie Official Character Art
Birdie Character Story Art 1
Birdie Character Story Art 2

Rounding out the Alpha 3 veterans and making her return to SF after nearly 20 years is Mika Nanakawa, otherwise known as Rainbow Mika! She is a rookie of the Iwashigahama Women’s Pro Wrestling promotion, with her tag team partner Nadeshiko (who also serves as her V-trigger in the game).

She swears allegiance to her master Zangief, and is sponsored by Karin’s Kanzuki Zaibatsu. During a wrestling tour, she receives a request to help stop Shadaloo’s Black Moon plan. She speaks in a casual manner, befitting of a “gym girl” like herself. Though she’s usually wearing her mask when training or competing in the ring, she’s actually quite an expressive, emotional person. In regards to her dislike being “younger people with no manners,” this specifically refers to Ibuki, with whom she notably got into an argument with upon their first meeting. However, they set their differences aside, and despite never agreeing on anything, infiltrated Shadaloo’s Base as a team during the Cinematic Story Mode.

Rainbow Mika Official Character Art
Rainbow Mika Character Story Art 1
Rainbow Mika Character Story Art 2

As we know, Cammy is an enhanced solider, her power increased in Shadaloo experiments, later rescued by the United Kingdom Special Forces Unit “Delta Red” who have helped her to walk a new path in life. She cooperates with Karin Kanzuki to participate in Shadaloo’s destruction once again, but her eyes fall upon suffering again when she sees that the Dolls are being brainwashed into fighting as living weapons.

Cammy Official Character Art
Cammy Character Story Art 1
Cammy Character Story Art 2

Next, we move on to that King of Shadaloo, the sadistic Spanish narcissist Vega. “The purpose of the struggle is to eliminate those who are ugly in the pursuit of True Beauty.” Though he is an intelligent warrior who absolutely adores himself, his mask literally hides glimpses of pure madness. His personal life philosophy is “beauty is absolute.” He is focused on the relationship between Cammy and Decapre, and hopes to “find new beauty” within them.

Vega Official Character Art
Vega Character Story Art 1
Vega Character Story Art 2

We continue the Shadaloo coverage by turning a spotlight on the evil warlord of the organization, and the major antagonist of the Street Fighter series, M. Bison. He wields the purple-colored, ominous energy called Psycho Power. Leader of the evil organization Shadaloo. He used the Black Moons to activate a plan to terrorize the world: filling himself with Psycho Power to achieve his strongest form in the history of the Street Fighter series. However, the real purpose is likely not world conquest; though generally perceived to be a power-hungry despot bent on ruling Earth and plunging its inhabitants into an endless nightmare, Bison’s plan may be to just face a rival of equal strength. His dialogue to Ryu at the climax of the Cinematic Story Mode about the true purpose of power seem to imply that the Bison only wishes to engage in “the ultimate battle” with someone whose powers are worthy of his otherworldly strength, with Ryu being the perfect candidate for such a match.

M. Bison Official Character Art
M. Bison Character Story Art 1
M. Bison Character Story Art 2

Finally, we have the newest member of Shadaloo, and the self-proclaimed “Number 2” of the organization, the master of deadly poisons, F.A.N.G! Appointed to the new Four Heavenly Kings of Shadaloo, he claims to be a member of the Royal Family of the self-proclaimed Lost Kingdom. He fights with a form of Chinese Kempo charged with poison from his own hands. His idolization of Bison and willingness to contribute to Shadaloo put him at the center of the Black Moon plan. Therefore, he noticed first and foremost the betrayal of Rashid’s friend. Usually, he speaks in an innocent tone, but it is merely acting: at the moment, he may seem casual, but death sometimes peeks out from behind his face. He considers “2” to be his lucky number, and is obsessed with it in all situations, sticking to it incessantly.

F.A.N.G Official Charcter Art
F.A.N.G Character Story Artwork 1
F.A.N.G Character Story Artwork 2/His Original Attire

To continue on with our newer fighters, we have Brazil’s Laura Matsuda, Sean’s big sister and one of Zangief’s “grappling buds.” We previously covered her family here. She lives a freewheeling, thrilling life, so she tends to not go home sometimes and travels instead. Sean is bad at handling Laura’s tendencies, but really cares and worries about his big sis. Perhaps providing an explanation for Sean’s actions during the Street Fighter III series, her profile closes by noting that, she is the planned inheritor of the Matsuda fighting style, so she seeks opponents to show just how strong her family is.

Laura Official Character Art
Laura Character Story Artwork 1
Laura Character Story Artwork 2

Finally, we have the main character of Street Fighter V’s General Story Mode, Rashid of the Turbulent Wind! Rashid isn’t your typical gung-ho all-or-nothing hero, he’s always thinking about the most efficient, smartest way to deal with things. He’s a practical man. He comes off as a carefree guy due to his parkour-influenced fighting style and casual talk, but when it comes to his friends there’s no one more serious than Rashid.

Rashid Official Character Art
Rashid Character Story Art 1
Rashid Character Story Art 2

For more content from the CFN Portal, check out these rejected costume designs for the original cast here and here.

Source: CFN Portal

XSplit’s Offcast Talks About the Manila Fighting Game Scene

One of the fighting game community’s pioneer streamers, Louis “Offcast” Vigil has been in the Philippines for a number of years now as part of XSplit. Aside from this, however, he’s also gotten involved with the local fighting game community in Manila, helping them with tournaments and events such as Manila Cup.

Recently, Offcast released a new video focusing on the Manila fighting game community. The video, which you can see below, serves as a guide for anyone visiting the Philippines who’s looking to play with the community in Manila.

Source: Offcast

Big Battlefield Glasgow Returns to Drygate Brewery on November 5th, 2016

Acting as Scotland’s last Super Smash Bros. major before the end of the year, Battlefield Glasgow has announced that that the Autumn edition of Big Battlefield will be returning to the Drygate Brewery on November 5th, 2016. As such, this Big Battlefield will have higher event caps for both Melee and Smash 4, and will even have a stage setup, providing a theatrical setting for this final major in this year’s Scottish Smash calendar.

Super Smash Bros. Melee will have Singles and Doubles, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will have Singles and Crews, with Crews having a cap of 8 participating teams, so gather your teammates now. There will be an early bird venue fee of £7, with it increasing to £10 after October 10th so if you are definitely planning to attend, buy your tickets early when they become available. All the details regarding a preliminary schedule, rulesets and player caps are available on the smash.gg and Facebook events pages, so take a look if you are thinking of attending. With the increased player cap and success of Big Battlefield Summer, expect talent from all over the United Kingdom coming together in Glasgow for a belter of a tournament.

Sources: Battefield Glasgow; smash.gg

Pro Tours and Product Placements: The Struggles of Being “Esports”

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not reflect Shoryuken.com as a whole.

If you have been keeping up with the competitive Super Smash Bros. scene, you will have noticed that there has been substantial hubbub around players being picked up by esports teams. In the past few weeks especially, players have been snapped up left and right as if there has been a mini-gold rush, with teams either starting their entry into Smash or increasing their reach by picking up top level talent. Whereas if you look at Street Fighter, there doesn’t seem to be that influx of Tier 1 esports teams investing in the game just yet, despite having the massive prize pots of the Capcom Pro Tour and mainstream exposure after the success of Evo Finals on ESPN2. This noticeable difference is an intriguing one and with some research and number crunching, I’ve got some possible reasons as to why there is this disparity in the presence of Tier 1 esports teams within both games.

To clarify what is meant by ‘Tier 1 esports teams’: these are the teams like Team SoloMid, G2, Team Liquid, or Evil Geniuses who have a strong presence in multiple esports like League of Legends, CS:GO or DOTA 2 and thus, have a massive social media presence and history of success backing them up. These are the organizations that if you mentioned them to a League or CS:GO player, they’d probably have strong opinions about that team.

One of the major reasons for this disparity comes from the plain fact that it is very expensive to run an esports team, and even harder to run at a profit. There is a significant financial risk in signing any player, especially if they are from a section of competitive gaming which that team is not familiar with, so many teams are simply not taking the plunge. As NRG chairman Andy Miller recently stated on the Videogame BANG! Podcast when talking about possibly sponsoring a Street Fighter player, “Street Fighter is a little more nascent.” Players either have to stream, which according to Miller they don’t do enough of yet, or they have to win. When you have to consider a salary and travel expenses, it is a tough sell to pick up a Street Fighter player solely on tournament wins, even if they are making top three at every event they attend. Most teams are looking for two out of three things when they are thinking of picking up a player–they must be likeable and marketable, they must be placing high, and they must be making content, either via streaming or general video creation. With Street Fighter, only a select few players are making consistent money from tournament winnings and even then, they probably don’t stream as much as they need to, in order to attract one of these Tier 1 teams.

Evil Geniuses is the Tier 1 team with the biggest presence in Street Fighter and if you look at their roster, it collectively ticks all of the three boxes. They have been clever in exactly who they have picked up so one of their players will invariably end up in the money. They do stream infrequently so there is an opportunity to build that audience, if more time is put into their streaming schedules. There is the added bonus that EG has massively successful teams in other esports so they can take a hit if their FGC division is running at a loss. However, EG is the outlier as they are the only Tier 1 team where their Street Fighter players outnumber their Smash players. Plus, there are teams like TSM, C9, and CLG who have no Street Fighter presence while sponsoring Smash players, and I feel this is down to Smash’s massive leg up when it comes to content creation.

Those magic words are king when esports are concerned and Smashers create tons. The majority of top players stream or make regular video content, tech videos are coming out every other day, and humorous Smash compilations are a dime a dozen. Smashers have a voracious appetite for content and top players realize that this demand must be catered to, if they want to keep themselves in the black. Besides his top placements, Nairo runs one of the biggest Smash 4 streams out there–and that was probably a major factor in his recent pick up by NRG. While Ally’s top placings played a big part in his pickup by Cloud9, it would not be surprising if he started to stream regularly as part of his contract. There is clearly a massive market for Street Fighter content; just look at the success of Capcom Pro Talk and shows like Excellent Adventures. But it is difficult to get the balance right between practicing to stay at the top and making videos to please your fans and team, making a career even harder to sustain as a viable income.

However, one key difference is that while Street Fighter may not have as many Tier 1 organizations investing in them, they do have corporate sponsors. Organizations like Razer, Qanba, Alienware and Red Bull have players for Street Fighter V and importantly, they can use their players to actively sell products like arcade sticks. For Melee especially, the CRT market is not exactly a thriving one and besides helping sell custom Gamecube controllers, it’s very hard for a corporate sponsor to back a Melee player when their game involves playing on a 14-year-old machine. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has a little more luck, as it is played on current-gen hardware, but there hasn’t been that much market research to see what unique products Smash can sell, as opposed to other titles. With Street Fighter, organizations like Red Bull have a special stake in the success of the CPT and its players, as they run tournaments like the Proving Grounds and Red Bull Kumite. The same goes for Razer, as having the world’s best player playing on a (functioning) Razer stick is likely going to drive up sales. As such, Smash may need to beef up their content offensive as finding corporate backing is more of a challenge.

When it comes to the Capcom Pro Tour, let’s talk about the presence of a Pro Tour with a big prize pool–as it’s a double-edged sword for both teams and players. The obvious benefit is that it is a grand stage, with multiple opportunities for a player to prove their worth and get a chance of earning that $500,000 if you reach the Finals. The money is clearly on show and up for grabs with the CPT, but this has the downside of everyone and their nan coming to claim the prize. North America has the highest number of Premier events out of any region so naturally, players will be coming from all over the globe in order to secure a spot at Capcom Cup. As we’ve seen in the early part of this year, this means killers like RZR|Infiltration and Tokido fly over and either take the golden ticket or the money. So if you’re an up-and-coming player looking for a team, you’re already at a disadvantage, as going to a Premier event will mean you will eventually run into a god-tier player who probably already has a sponsor or team, making it hard for you to have that breakout performance to attract attention. Ranking Events will naturally be harder if national killers are denied at place at a Premier, forcing your team to potentially fork out for international and internal flights, as you look towards other regions to qualify. We’ve seen this in action with American players grinding points in Latin America and Asian players in Europe, so flying out to other regions is still a risky investment no matter what.

While the idea of a Pro Tour is great for publicity and does mean that players from all around the world get a chance at winning that grand prize, it can prove to be a poisoned chalice for potential investors. They obviously want their players in that Cup Finals but if that means spending extortionate amounts of money on flights and not receiving much back via their cut of the winnings or streaming money, you can see why teams may be reluctant to sign players on their way up. In Smash, the lack of a Pro Tour may actually be a boon to teams, as they can be tactical about which events they send their players to. There is no immediate impetus to send your player to this stacked tournament in order to gain Ranking Points to get a chance at that massive prize pot. Players and teams can make mutually beneficial decisions by picking specific events where they are likely to make money and send them there. There isn’t that constant threat of “if I don’t attend the next major, I won’t get to the Cup Finals,” so players can have time to stream, practice and take a break should they need to. At present, there is a big Smash tournament every other week at locations around the country, so there is always something to compete in.

Again, there is the obvious downside of not having a massive prize pot and this glut of tournaments is only really afforded to players within the US, but the absence of the Pro Tour pressure can offer everyone some well-needed breathing room. Much like the CPT though, North America is the crucible of Smash, which makes it a struggle for non-US players to get the notice of top level teams. Paying tax on winnings can be an absolute killer if you from outside the country too–just look at the rate of tax in Sweden for a player like Armada. Not including income tax or money potentially taken by his sponsor from his tournament winnings, the lack of proper tax reform for esports tournament earnings means that he may pay up to 30% tax on prize money. So for his $4,744.00 prize for getting 2nd at Evo 2016, he may have paid $1,423.20 just in tax. Even for players, just winning tournaments is not financially viable so if they want to make playing competitively a full-time career, you have to stream just for your own sake. Should the rumors about a Twitch and Nintendo-funded Smash Circuit be proved true, it will certainly be interesting to see how that tour learns from the CPT and takes into account just how expensive it can be for all parties to run a circuit of this magnitude.

One must also factor in the position of outside organizations helping players actually connect with teams and sponsors in the first place. In Smash, many community heads are actively working with players and teams to negotiate deals which are beneficial to both parties. Groups like MIOM which act as both player incubators and negotiators are crucial in getting players these deals with Tier 1 teams like CLG or C9. While many of these conversations and no doubt enlightening discussions are happening behind the magic curtain, it’s good to know there are individuals and organizations who are acting as a third party to ensure these agreements suit everyone. With Street Fighter, there doesn’t seem to be a public body which is actively helping players seek out these teams and connecting them to people in the know. I imagine with a nonpartisan group of tournament organizers, commentators and community boffins who know their way around both the legal and financial aspects of esports would be a great help in accelerating Street Fighter’s growth among the bigger organizations. There does need to be a push from players themselves to seek out teams and make themselves marketable, should they wish to see this aspect of Street Fighter blossom.

Now, for all this talk of getting good deals for players and teams, there is always the question of whether this is a rush before the bubble bursts. Is the decision for teams to see how Street Fighter V plays out over the next year a safe move to ensure that it has decent staying power, and is the Smash rush going to saturate the market? Many experts from various games have been discussing this as of late, and it is definitely a consideration that should be in the back of everyone’s minds. While it’s great to want continued exponential growth, is there the infrastructure and support to sustain bigger venues for events or to ensure casters get paid a proper wage, for example? Opening up the discussion about these issues is integral for everyone in the FGC to ensure a steady and secure future that doesn’t collapse under the weight of its own expectations.

Sources: VideoGameBang!; Esports Earnings; Swedish Tax Agency; Capcom Pro Tour; TSM ZeRo, TheHadou; Tafokints; Panda Global