The FGC Doesn't Want To Be Esports - And That’s Okay

Evo 2024 achieved a historic milestone by becoming the largest physical esports event in history based on competitor numbers, boasting over 10,000 entrants, and even more attendees. Excitement is at a fever pitch for a renaissance of the genre of fighting games, which has not only seen multiple new incredible titles emerge over the past 18 months, but a resurgence in its classics, such as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. It was an incredible event, and a milestone for the Fighting Game Community and esports.

But many dedicated FGC fans and competitors would turn their nose up at accepting that Evo was an esports event. To them the FGC and esports are antithèse. 

Perhaps because the FGC has done all the things esports hasn’t: It’s spent years fighting off direct control by developers, built a strong grass-roots scene where anyone can play local events and find themselves competing at the international level, and has successfully avoided the balkanization of its fanbase, combining as a whole into the mighty Fighting Game Community. FGC is everything esports is not, and that’s good. 

But the tide is turning. As esports organizations flood the FGC with sponsorships, developers who crave control over esports freedom join the fray, and esports faces internal challenges, the anti-esports sentiment looks to split the room. 

FGC’s difficulties with developers

Modern esports has undoubtedly been facilitated by the developers of esports game titles. Some games are entirely reliant on their developer, such as League of Legends, while others have a more hands-off approach, as with Counter-Strike and Dota 2. However, the latter still receive significant financial contributions, and also have the developers act as a kind of governing body. While events like the Saudi-backed Esports World Cup offer an alternative to developer reliance, the new source of money comes with its own set of issues and caveats. 

Conversely, the FGC has had an often contentious relationship with the developers of their games. As recently as last year, there were calls to not expect and even reject the “esports handouts” from developers as the latest huge fighting game titles, Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Tekken 8, were released. While there are developer lead leagues in FGC, such as the CAPCOM Pro Tour and Tekken World Tour, numerous other events operate outside official competition, relying on local organizers for seeding and competitors.

Within this relationship though, there’s more substantial levels of resentment that occasionally manifest. In 2022, CAPCOM released their Street Fighter V Community License to massive backlash. Within the license, the charging of spectator fees was forbidden, there were hard caps on prize pools, restrictions on how the SFV logo could be used, and it even prevented merchandise and drinks sales. This was eventually walked back after CAPCOM were convinced of the huge threat it presented to grass-roots organizers, although it still gave organizers some hoops to jump through, such as proving entrance fees were used to cover event costs.

But perhaps no FGC versus developer battle is more notorious than the one between Super Smash Bros. players and Nintendo. Smash Bros., like esports, has a contentious place in the FGC, with some saying the game doesn’t qualify as a fighting game. But with its multi-year presence at Evo, and numerous appearances at other tournaments, it certainly moves in the same circle. Still, when it comes to developer relations, Smash Bros. really does stand out from the crowd.

Nintendo has often treated Smash Bros. esports with a mix of deliberate distance, and aggressive litigation. The company threatened legal action against Evo in 2013, and shuttered esports-focused mod Project M after years of issues. But the climax of the issues was the shuttering of the independently organized Smash World Tour. In what is probably the biggest blow a developer has ever handed down to an esport event, the 2022 Smash World Championships were canceled two weeks out from the event. 

In the wake of the cancellation, Nintendo found near universal condemnation. Additionally, a rival event, the Panda Cup, found itself the focus of the community's ire, as they had allegedly conspired to sabotage the Smash World Tour, while obtaining Nintendo’s blessing. The fallout saw the dissolution of both competitive circuits, and one of the most dramatic blows to any esport scene ever.

With this history of battles with developers, it makes the fighting game community's burgeoning relationship with Riot Games seem like a huge red flag. The League of Legends and VALORANT developer is set to release 2XKO next year, with a preview of the game even playable at Evo 2024. It even emerged this past week that Riot had a Smash Bros.-style game in development but canceled it because of backlash to Warner Bros. Games MultiVersus. This has primed the FGC to be ready and willing to accept Riot Games.

But Riot Games has had a sordid history of imposing its will on the communities of its games, something the FGC may not take kindly to. When League of Legends esports was in its infancy, Riot Games pressured tournament organizers to not to host Dota 2 at the same events. This led to the creation of ESL One events, as League of Legends was at Intel Extreme Masters. Just a few months later Riot Games pulled all external tournament organizer support, and brought their entire LoL competitive scene in-house. Only recently has the company allowed third-party organizers to hold events with its teams. 

Riot Games might find much more significant backlash if it attempts to force its competitors out of Evo, or other events for that matter. The company has long operated a strategy of “if you can’t beat them, copy their game and market it better” which has been the case with Dota, Auto-chess, and Counter-Strike. It remains to be seen if fighting games will be the next frontier, and if the FGC will allow it.

Ultimately, the FGC might be right to be suspicious and contentious towards Riot and other developers. After all, this is the company that rolled out a kernel-level anti-cheat system that reportedly completely bricked PCs, only to deny it on all levels, despite high-profile examples to the contrary. The developers haven’t given them any reason to trust them. And given all it takes is a single legal challenge to bring your community to its knees, it’s good that the FGC isn’t fully beholden to them.

The FGC’s Distrust of Esports

At the outset, I said that the FGC doesn’t like esports. This antagonism between the two has cooled over the years, and the most dramatic piece of writing on it is no longer live. In a piece on the defunct Penny Arcade Report, numerous community members from both sides were interviewed, including Tom Cannon, and esports journalist Rod Breslau. In a reactive piece by Event Hubs, some of their quotes are also preserved. The original piece outlined the biggest issues the FGC had with esports.

Firstly, it's the perceived over-seriousness of esports. The suits, the dramatic prize pool announcements, the fireworks and ceremonies. Contrast this to pop offs and silliness from the FGC, which feels much more down to earth.

Mike Ross perhaps said it best in a 2012 interview: “I don't like the term 'esports.' I think it's a terrible, terrible term. And the fighting game community, I like its underground, 8-Mile feel. The esports thing, I feel like I have no place in there.”

Secondly, there's resentment that the esports community only comes knocking when there’s money to be made. This is sadly very true. Commenting about the release of Street Fighter 4 in 2013, Evo organizer Tom Cannon shot venom at esports organizers: “so SF4 came out, and suddenly the leagues were interested. And we're like, oh, so you're interested now that there's a game that's marketable. We've been doing this for fifteen years, and everything's been the same except now there's a game that's marketable.” In 2023, with the release of Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat, and later in 2024, Tekken 8, the same thing happened.

Finally, it’s the feeling that esports is staging a corporate takeover. Certainly it doesn’t help that esports does seem to want that, with a homogenization into a single yearly Esports World Cup, and all tournaments owned by one organizer. But the reality is that esports wants the FGC not for money, but because it wants what the FGC has, and esports can’t build: Sustainability and grass-roots.

Doing What Esports Can’t: Building the Grass Roots

As a whole the FGC is one of the most healthy, grass-roots communities in all of gaming. Terms like grass-roots and infrastructure are thrown around constantly in esports, with various regions and games told that they just don’t have them. North America is often criticized for its dramatic lack of esports “infrastructure.” 

This is perhaps the most mis-diagnosed and mis-treated ailment in all of esports. Articles will detail how countries like China and South Korea are far ahead in esports because of high-speed internet, legal standing for esports players, culture, etc. The cure, apparently, to poor infrastructure and lack of grass-roots, is to have your games’ developer add secondary, lower-tier divisions and competitions, such as the League of Legends North American Challenger League. And yet year after year, the infrastructure problem still remains.

But while esports in the West has been baffled by the grass-roots infrastructure problem, the FGC has known what to do for years: organize locals. Locals are just what they sound like, local events for fighting game competitions. They’re small tournaments. They’re game nights at a barcade. They’re a couple dozen people in a community center with some TVs. Locals are the foundation of the FGC.

The FGC has also made sure to impart this knowledge on anyone who’ll listen. There’s dozens of articles online about how to start and run your own locals, but something like Henry “Choysauce” Choi’s guide on EventHubs is one of the best examples. Growth and sustainability in esports are often presented as some kind of mysticism which only genius business analysts can comprehend. But in the FGC, direct action is the name of the game. There’s guides and help. Go start something! As Choi explains, be a leader, create events for the community, and keep holding locals.

This focus on the grass-roots and locals has helped create plenty of stories of success and rise to stardom. From now five-time Evo champion Arslan Ash, who rose from playing locals in Pakistan to international success, to North America’s first Street Fighter Evo champion, Victor “Punk” Woodly, who started attending local tournaments in 2009 as a highschooler, everywhere you turn in the FGC there’s a story like it - players start out at locals, get good, and become champions. It’s the path to pro that esports has craved and tried, but just can’t manage. And it’s just one thing from a larger list that esports wants.

Esports Wants What the FGC Has

While sustainable grass-roots infrastructure and a developer agnostic attitude are two elements that the FGC has developed, it also has a lot of smaller advantages. One is their events themselves. As mentioned in our esports monetization, one aim of in-person tournaments is to turn them into a kind of esports convention, where the hobby as a whole is celebrated. The FGC to a large extent already has that. Evo fills convention halls with thousands of fans and competitors, and is as much of a community gathering as it is a tournament. 

But outside of Evo, the biggest of them all, almost all fighting game events have garnered this convention feeling for years. Alex Jebailey’s US-based Combo Breaker, the UK’s VSFighting, France’s Ultimate Fighting Arena, are all examples of multi-discipline fighting game tournaments with a convention and community meet-up spin. To the point where it’s the default for fighting game tournaments, not the exception.

Next is the social reach. Organically, over years of building, Evo has become the largest esports event in history by competitor count. Despite the Esports World Cup (EWC) vying for the title of the world’s largest esports event, Evo’s stature remains unparalleled. While the EWC attempts to entice esports organizations to Riyadh with lucrative payments, endorsements, and grants, Evo attracts thousands of competitors to pay their way to Las Vegas, Nevada purely on the strength of its prestige.

FGCs online presence is organic - it doesn't rely on paying people to promote and use its hashtag. Earlier this month, a post about Japanese players went viral in a perhaps misguided attempt at raising awareness of economic issues in Japan. The resulting responses, particular quotes, gained thousands of views, as FGC fans and players memed it into oblivion.

And as if to prove the point even harder, Evo even had a new famous moment, reminiscent of the iconic Moment 37, as Japanese player Hayao scored an incredible victory in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. That clip has been viewed millions of times, with thousands of retweets, and dozens of clips and photos of Hayao going viral. Ironically, the original Moment 37 had a manufactured element to it, given a higher number to make it seem like there were so many more moments. And yet it still feels more organic than the average EWC post.

Esports’ Enticing Offer

But with all these advantages then, what can esports offer? Well, the short and simple answer is money. In various forms, by swearing fealty to the esports industry, the FGC will see an influx of cash that will level up its events. This will come in a number of ways, from team sponsorship to increased prize pools, and expanded event opportunities.

Esports organizations have sponsored FGC players for decades, but have ramped up in recent years for a number of reasons. In a 2023 interview before his signing with his current sponsor, Team Falcons Tekken player Joshua "Ghirlanda" Bianchi explained that one factor could be the low overheads: "Imagine you just have one player instead of a team. League of Legends needs five people, plus a coach, plus the reserve. It's like you're hiring a football team. A fighting game player you have one guy, I always organize myself with travel and you don't even need a manager… if you find someone reliable—and most of the people in our community are—it's a good scene to invest in."

This would seem like good wisdom, and the cost-versus-return on a FGC player seems massive. Just take the Evo 2024 winners, Arslan Ash with Twisted Minds, and Punk and Shamar "Nitro" Hinds with FlyQuest. For a relatively small investment, these organizations now have their team names associated with world champions.

That isn’t to say esports hasn’t attempted to co-opt the FGC already. Two fighting games have made their way to the EWC, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. With just a fraction of players (compared to Evo), 24 for Street Fighter 6, and 32 for Tekken 8, the games’ inclusion seems like a token effort rather than a true inclusion. Like many of the games included, the Esports World Cup has acted not as part of their official competitive scene, with both the CAPCOM Pro Tour 2024 and Tekken World Tour not recognizing the event as an official competition. Ultimately, scheduling your event so close to Evo makes it a risk.

Beyond this, there’s so much about the FGC community as a whole that would make it seemingly impossible to replicate in Riyadh. In light of revelations about the strict terms detailed in the official EWC admin guide, it’s hard to imagine the event condoning popoffs, the eccentric and over the top celebrations for winning. Beyond this, there’s the obvious issue that the FGC has a large LGBTQ+ contingent, as highlighted by Team Liquid’s 2023 feature Why is the FGC So Queer? Given the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has criminalized the lifestyles of these queer individuals, it could disqualify a large number of people from traveling to the country, including some of its most decorated players. As ever, the offer of esports money comes with some huge caveats and compromises.

But what esports won’t be able to offer are all the things that the FGC has already figured out, and esports struggles to. Infrastructure, grass-roots, organic viral content. Authenticity. Community. These are things esports has often mortgaged or compromised on to spur its rapid, and often unsustainable growth. At the outset, we explained that FGC doesn’t want to be esports. On the contrary, esports wants to be the FGC, and buying its way in seems to be the most obvious route.

from AFK Gaming https://ift.tt/Xlsq8iN