If you ask any tournament organizer, they’ll tell you that running an event isn’t easy. It’s even more difficult to build said event into a major that draws attention from game developers; Rick “TheHadou” Thiher knows all about this.
Having built Combo Breaker out of the now defunct Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament, the event is now not only a part of the Killer Instinct World Cup but also the Capcom Pro Tour. Now, he is garnering attention from mainstream gaming publications such as Game Informer to discuss the keys to his success. In this interview, he talks about some of the issues TOs have to deal with, such as seeding, bracket floating, and just getting players to come out. But his biggest discussion is about his motivation to do these events. Having broke even every year with the event, he views his role as community building. “I’d like to see an eSports industry attached to the genre that I love… that supports people being able to do these things because they love it, and make an income that lets them do it every day.”
Source: Game Informer