Category: News

This past weekend, 20 of the best Tekken 7 players in the United States descended upon the ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia to see which squad could lay claim to the King of Iron Fist title in the ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown.

With RB|Anakin, ITS|Cuddle Core, VS|NYCFab, and VS|Pokchop serving as team captains, they each were able to draft four additional players from the remaining pool of 15 fighters, to then battle it out in a single-elimination format — with the additional twist of a resurrection rule, which allowed a defeated player to be revived by the team captain once at any time during the Grand Finals. With Richard Lewis, Rip, Tasty Steve, Sajam, and MarkMan calling the action, it was certainly an epic event.

Results

Tekken 7

1. Team CuddleCore: ITS|CuddleCore (Alisa, Xiaoyu), NCSS|Jimmy J Tran (Bryan), VS|KoDee (Kazuya, Devil Jin), BrawlPro (King, Paul), UYU|KawaiiFaceMiles (Alisa)

2. Team Pokchop: VS|Pokchop (Josie), ITS|Lil Majin (King), Shadow20z (Claudio), WayGamble (Leo), Mateo (Feng)

3. Team Aankin: RB|Anakin (JACK-7, Geese), Circa|JoeyFury (JACK-7), PG|Speedkicks (Hwoarang, Kazumi), VS|SperoGin (Paul), NG-Obscure (Alisa)

3. Team NYCFab: VS|NYCFab (Bob, Feng), UYU|Princess Ling (Xiaoyu), Inkognito (Bryan), Rickstah (Akuma), ITS|Jackie Tran (JACK-7)

Source: ELEAGUE TV

There’s some pretty big news for indie game developer Blue Mammoth Games, creators of Brawlhalla. Last week, the studio announced that they are joining Ubisoft — an international triple-A game publisher. BMG shared the news on their blog.

“Last year, Brawlhalla was growing, the community was growing, esports was growing, the studio was growing, everything was going great,” Matt “Matterhorn” Woomer writes in the Brawlhalla blog. “But as we grew up and up, we also began seeing the ceiling for a scrappy, never-say-die indie studio. We realized that to complete our plan and take this crazy game to the next level, we were going to need help. So we went out looking for a partner.”

The studio talks about the benefits of this partnership — which will obviously result in support that will help them steadily grow, expand their budget, and add more features to the game. Woomer assures that the game will always stay free-to-play, and that Ubisoft is committed to that philosophy as well.

Maybe the cynics will predict a rampant increase in DLC in the game, but either way, this is huge news for an indie FGC studio.

Source: Brawlhalla

Amid news of the dissolution of Splyce and Circa Esports, there’s another sponsored player to add to the list of free agents. Surprisingly, it’s one of the most successful prodigies in the FGC — Street Fighter V pro Victor “Punk” Woodley.

As of today I am no longer part of @PandaGlobalPG
Such an amazing org! Thank you for everything and good luck moving forward

— Punk (@PunkDaGod) March 4, 2018

We wish the best of luck to Punk as he explores free agency!

You'll always be family to us, Victor. https://t.co/BBdNZxEWbz

— Panda Global® (@PandaGlobalPG) March 4, 2018

The separation seems to be mutual; at the time of this writing, Panda Global hasn’t acknowledged the release of Punk on their official site. If Punk is actively looking for sponsors, it’s likely he won’t remain a free agent for very long — his resume alone should ensure that.

Sources: @PandaGlobalPG; PandaGlobal; Capcom Pro Tour

Though neither current iteration of Team Blue’s decade-old BlazBlue series made the official lineup for the upcoming CEO 2018, rest assured that battles for the Azure and the Keystones will be raging in Daytona Beach. The community has officially announced side tournaments for both BlazBlue: Central Fiction and the upcoming BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be held at the event. This will give us our first sampling of the wars that will be waged upon the Phantom Field just a few short weeks after the game’s release.

Sign-ups for both events are now live at smash.gg. You can also see an announcement tweet from Bloo below.

#CEO2018 Blazblue Side Tournaments. Featuring Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and Blazblue Central Fiction. Please RThttps://t.co/ZkzbCXQNKF

— Bloo @ FR2018 (@Bloo561) March 1, 2018

Keep in mind that both titles will be played on PlayStation 4. This could serve as much-needed practice for BBTAG players, with Evo on the horizon about a month afterwards. CEO 2018 takes place June 29-July 1st at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Source: Bloo561 (Twitter)

After reporting on the disheartening news that Circa Eports will be ceasing operations following Evo 2018, another sponsor has officially decided to pull out of the fighting game community.

Back in 2017, Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez and Ryan “RyanLV” Romero both signed with the organization as the first members of their fighting game division. During their tenure, Champ would make several top 8s in Street Fighter V, most notably getting 7th at Evo 2017, as well as winning SCR 2017 for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and getting 4th at Canada Cup and 9th at Battle for the Stones. Meanwhile, RyanLV went on to become the final Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Evo Champion, before getting 3rd at Battle for the Stones and 9th at Frosty Faustings X for MvCI.

In tweets posted by both Champ and Splyce’s Vice President Mike McKenna, the two indicated that the parting was mutual, offering nothing but praise for the other. McKenna closed by wishing both Ryans the best in their future endeavors and hopes that they may be able to work together again sometime down the road. RyanLV hasn’t commented on the situation as of this writing.

As of today I am no longer part of @Splyce Gaming
Such an amazing org! Thank you for everything and good luck moving forward

— FChamp Ryan Ramirez (@fchampryan) March 3, 2018

Today we are announcing our departure from the fighting game community. We want to thank @fchampryan and @Ryan_LV for their year with Splyce. For more background, please see Marty's vlog on the decision below. pic.twitter.com/Mj48IIuwuJ

— Splyce (@Splyce) March 2, 2018

We at Shoryuken wish both Filipino Champ and RyanLV the best in all of their future fighting game endeavors.

Sources: fchampryan (Twitter); Splyce (Twitter)