IN AN ERA WHEN ESPORTS IS BIGGER THAN EVER, PS5 SHOULD GIVE EVERYONE, FROM PLAYERS TO ORGANISERS, THE TOOLS TO COMPETE.
The next gen needs to hit the dojo to compete
Fighting games are great,” is what the famous Street Fighter player Tokido said when he won Evo. Really, he isn’t wrong. I’m sure everyone has played Street Fighter, Tekken, or Mortal Kombat for fun with friends, but for newcomers it’s difficult to imagine that there might be a competitive scene for these games. While for many ‘eSports’ means the likes of Fortnite, Overwatch, or PC MOBAs, fighting games have always had a competitive edge from the arcades.
Even now, new players might not realise how big tournaments for their favourite skull-crunchers can be. For me, the competitive scene was originally a hobby, one that came from the ability to play with friends when online gaming for fighting games didn’t exist (fun fact: the first game I played competitively was Capcom Vs SNK 2 on PS2). Over time, that hobby grew, and led to me founding the NGI Events and becoming a tournament organiser myself. Unlike built-for-streamability battle royales these days, most fighting game communities are grassroots, starting from humble beginnings – a group of friends playing growing into something bigger like weekly tournaments or monthly gatherings. They don’t have the structural backbone for a tournament system built in from the start like the newer genres.
FUTURE PERFECT
Looking to a future when next-gen consoles will be taking the lead, it will be interesting to see how this affects the competitive landscape. The problem with each generational shift is that the cost of the new console can make playing the games that are on it problematic. New fighters can be flashy all you like, but if nobody owns the controllers or game, nobody at a local level can play it. The fact that PS5 is backwards-compatible will make the transition a lot easier, however; especially if it adds passive benefits to games like faster loading times to extend their viability.
Full compatibility with previous-gen controllers is an exciting change. This alone can keep a lot of people in the local scene, knowing that they don’t have to buy a new controller/arcade stick/adaptor for a new generation (look up arcade stick prices!) This has been a problem since the transition from PS2 to PS3. Backwards compatibility will make it a lot easier for players to pick up new games and for tournaments to shift over to newer hardware, and it gives me hope that players will be more inclined to give games a go in the new console generation. (My own wishlist as a tournament organiser might sound less exciting: the ability to de-sync all controllers and lock profiles would be a dream for running offline events).
From a community standpoint, the share button has really improved the ability to share content and techniques on social media platforms. The ease of showing off content compared to the PS3-era makes it much easier to build a local community and share knowledge. If PS5 can build on that sort of interactivity, we may see fighting games really enter a new age. Seeing flashy combos and moves on social media entices people to make it to locals and regionals to compete, and greatly helps newcomers learn how to play competitively. While it’s great to see all eSports bringing people together, it’d be great to see the next gen give fighting games more of a push. Locals will always be important, but if fast-paced competitive action can be slicker next gen, anyone who gives it a go is bound to stay hooked.