A Short Rant About the Capcom Pro Tour

Capcom Cup is supposed to be the world championship of Street Fighter, the pinnacle of competition, even more now that the champion walks away with a million dollars. But somehow, with auto-qualifiers, and the way the pot is spread, I still prefer the old days when there was less money involved.
Street Fighter 6 is now available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.
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#nephewdork #streetfighter #StreetFighter6 #StreetFighter6gameplay #StreetFighter6

[@Forever_Scrub]

If capcom wants a deeper professional circuit it would make more sense to have 1st place in the cup be ~500k and use the other 500k to make podium finishes at premiers more meaningful in terms of prize money. It's hard to justify taking a punt on life as a pro gamer if your livelihood is riding on winning a single tourney for a life changing cash out.

[@DemShion]

Capcomp cares about exposure and 1M prize pool! sounds way more exciting for viewers and most likely results in more engagement. Profit driven society my dude

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

They're a business...

[@Forever_Scrub]

@@PrincipalSkinner3190 Yeah but it's not clear to me that the best thing for business is a big 1st prize that attracts some viewers, rather than a deep amateur league that attracts a lot of players who invest a lot.

[@gameclips5734]

@@Forever_Scrub unlikely that the decision was made by anyone with any common sense sadly

[@ismaeljrp1]

@@Forever_Scrubconsidering Capcom is like the most successful publisher right now it’s a bit conceited to think any of us would know any better. They must have all the data backing up their decisions analyzed by professional Data scientists. These decisions aren’t random.

[@inakiken]

Can't blame UMA for retiring from competitive scene

[@TheCJRhodes]

Dude coulda made close to six figures just from sponsorship and going to invitationals/SFL/special events/collabs and not even touch CPT this year just based on his name recognition, and put a lot of that CC money away since USD goes so much further in Taiwan. But I hope he’s living the dream, and still has some of his earnings years down the road.

[@PooPooPerson]

The $1,000,000 prize for Capcom Cup is just a headline generator to boost press releases. It's a good marketing strategy for Capcom, but bad for the players.

[@dddaaa6965]

These ppl acting all of a sudden like they didn’t go into fighting games knowing they will make no money and be lucky to make 10k

[@henryludvor6275]

SFV CPT was PEAK. There was nothing else that beat the format that included instant qualifying spots and points that contribute towards additional qualifying spots. The main thing that brings the series down, along with the ridiculously stupid prize distribution, is the fact that a majority of the circuit is played ONLINE. There's only EIGHT offline qualifying spots, and the other remaining spots are filled by World Warrior and Online Premier events. This just isn't exciting as online tournaments are not exciting to watch AT ALL. The entirety of the finals is played OFFLINE so why are people qualifying for it in a different manner. Not to mention cheating is starting to run rampant and it's only gonna get more difficult as they get better at hiding their intentions. If anything, World Warrior events should offer paid trips to the local premier event for the player to qualify in the same manner as everyone else. The fact that Japan - which is without question one of the strongest regions - only has TWO qualifying spots is asinine. Personally I think the entirety of the tour should be 100% offline. Online tournament series such as TNS are great opportunities for players to hone their skills, but shouldn't contribute to the qualifying pool. This not only opens the world to more offline and exciting events, but also allows for greater distribution of offline events giving more regions more chances at getting a premier spot. I don't buy the fact that this makes it less accessible for people since players are already fronting $60 for the game, another $40 for DLC, $500 for a console or PC, and $100 for a pad/stick/leverless device. It shouldn't be out of someone's realm to save enough money to travel to an offline premier. If you're a player for a professional esports organization, then CPT is probably one of the least attractive events to pursue since there is a 90% dropoff from 1st to 2nd and the lower prizes become insignificant compared to the amount of work put in. I can't think of a tournament that has a worse distribution and if this is going to be the norm moving forward, then I hope this is CPT's last year. EWC has raised the bar with how large scale tournament series should be ran and I would love to see them overtake CPT if this doesn't improve.

[@ButterflyFairyPrincess888]

This comment needs to be pinned. 😐

[@jeffim9]

Absolutely agree with you, the prize pool distribution and the qualifying system is so bad now. Bringing back the point system would make CPT much more watchable.

[@Vanity0666]

They just need to do what valve does and partner with sponsored events to fundraise via in game purchases like costumes and stuff

[@jdfreeze]

Having a seven digit prize put Sf6 on the minds of gamers in general. Splitting the prize pool across feeder tournaments and lower placements helps the other competitors, but makes less of a headline to drive new community joiners.

[@ChaosRetinue]

Did capcom do a Dota international style prize pool booster from cosmetics sales? If not why don't they try that method for the general player base to help with the competitive pot?

[@jdfreeze]

​@@ChaosRetinuethe answer to that question requires data that only the Capcom team has. We don't know attach rates on cosmetics, sf6 fgc's impact on revenue, or the effect of either of those on how long tailed sf6 is, from a bus perspective. I think it would be neat though.

[@BoxerMain]

@@ChaosRetinue they are selling costumes but they just keep the money

[@beam5655]

​@@ChaosRetinueThey did this the year NuckleDu won. Not sure why they haven't done it since.

[@bryanthulbert7450]

The real issue is Capcom can put up more money, they just refusing to do so. They are a multi-million dollar company. They can throw an extra million into the circuit to help out the players

[@ButterflyFairyPrincess888]

This. 😐

[@um931]

300k for CC winner is fair if they take the other 700k and spread it throughout the circuit and events.

[@WT83]

If they drop from $1M to $300k, everyone is calling it "Poverty Cup" and is just as outraged.

[@МирославКръстев-с7и]

I've always found it funny how fighting games have insanely small price pools compared to other game genres. Modern fighting games developers will try to make their game competitively viable, promote the e-sport side of it with online posts and in-game rewards and messages, but never put a decent price pool in their tournaments. If you want your game to be popular, invest money into it. Advertise the game more, create more tournaments with higher price pools, make it so a pro player can actually earn a decent income from playing your game. More money = more players joining tournaments = more popularity = more new players = more profits for the company CSGO (now CS2) and LoL are popular because of e-sports tournaments and the price pools there are massive. Meanwhile with most fighting game tournaments, the price pools are not big enough to even justify the cost of your plane tickets

[@thespeedof5999]

I disagree. The problem isn't really prize pool size. For the two games you talked about: - No CS2 tournament has awarded more than 400k for 1st place (Intel Masters and EWC). Since prize money has to be split 6-ways among team members, this works out to less than 67k per person for even a first place win. - LoL did use to have much bigger prize pools, but this also hasn't been the case for some time. LoL World Championships (the premiere event with highest prize pool) was down to 500k for 1st place even by 2021, and has been dropping every year since (445k for 1st in 2023). This also has to get split 5-6 ways among team members, and ends up works out to 80k~ per person for a first place win. By comparison, the prize money for winning first place in Capcom Cup last year was $1,000,000, with *zero* people to split it with. This is several *orders of magnitude* more than what anything in either LoL and CS2 would net an individual person. The problem is that if you *don't* win first (or second) place in the system capcom has set up, you're basically going to get almost nothing because the way the prize pool is allocated sucks. They could easily drop first place in Capcom Cup to $500k (still many times higher than the 60-80k per person you would get in LoL/CS2) and redistribute the rest more evenly across both Capcom Cup and qualifying events, and it would solve 99% of the problems.

[@AirLancer]

Do people honestly get into games because of big prize pools at tournaments? I doubt any casual fighting game player factors prize pools into their decision on whether to pick up a game or not. "Wow, Capcom Cup has a $1,000,000 prize for first place? Sweet, time to get hard stuck in gold rank!" Competitive scenes are born out of healthy player communities, not the other way around. Games like StarCraft, Counter-Strike, or LoL had extremely vibrant e-sports scenes BECAUSE they were popular and fun games that then got developer support, but no amount of prize money has ever made a bad game popular. Just look at how the Overwatch League fell apart, and that had as much backing from monied interests as an esports scene could have. It doesn't matter if the game behind it all itakes a nosedive. Injecting money into competitive scenes to prop up a game is putting the horse before the cart.

[@HwanTheLight]

This is just peak ignorance tbh, you just picked out the most popular esports categories and made false assumptions. Big prize pools really have nothing to do with sustaining the esports scenes in LoL or CS:GO, and has much more to do with sponsorship deals and partnerships. Professional players in those games don't go pro for the prize pool. They become pros for the high salary. The FGC, despite it's massive growth in recent years is still a much more niche community. Asking Capcom to invest money into tournament prize pools, money that they probably can't afford - at a loss to their own profits is both unsustainable and irresponsible. When the prize pool is at 1M the bigger problem is more to do with how it's distributed rather than how big it is. The current system of 1st place taking 50% and then getting halved per placing makes it so that the people who placed at the top 10 of super majors can't even win back their travel/accommodation is a sad situation. Also, Capcom just shoving money into tournaments to grow the game isn't going to work. We've already had the Overwatch Leage (OWL) and we all know how little that did to help the game grow and now that entire scene is pretty much dead. When it comes to esports it will always be a grassroots movement. The community always needs to grow first - then the outside investment will follow. Not the other way around.

[@NikolayNikoloff]

@@HwanTheLight Yeah, this guy is just talking out of his ass, I play SF6 cause I like the game, not because I think I'd ever be able to make this a career or something, he is just a moron with an opinion and likes to shove it down everyone's throat, something we've seen ppl do a lot on social media lately.

[@TenjinZekken]

@@thespeedof5999alot of the esports you mentioned have high value contracts though. Most of these players aren't relying on tourney prize pools to make a living. League goes beyond that and salaries players who play during their regular season, on top of what the players org pays them for their contract. For a long time, this was also essentially free income, since expenses were often covered by the team because it benefits them (for example when gamer houses were still a thing, and even now they still get things like chefs bevause maintaining player health is beneficial to the org and their teams performance and things like that) Being good in one of the big esports titles actually makes money because orgs front a lot of the money they make, not Valve, or Riot.

[@azizkash286]

sf6 in general is very anti- player. Capcom is focusing more about PR and the casual audience/viewers

[@beam5655]

Capcom is actually braindead, both with the qualifier system and the prizepool distribution. Top pros should somehow get in direct communication with them, because they literally had a better system years ago.

[@henryludvor6275]

If this is gonna be the norm moving forward, then I hope EWC makes CPT completely irrelevant. If you come in anything other than 1st place, then the entire CPT is a complete waste of your time.

[@SonicBoyster]

The point system encouraged people to travel to every tournament, right? That seems like a lot of time and energy to qualify for one big tournament. Folks who can’t afford to fly all over end up having a worse chance of getting in.

[@FutureWorldX]

Is this how Tekken 8 TWT wants to add Regional Dojos as a way to earn tournament points during the season?

[@ΚρανίΩ]

yep exactly the only people this advantages is people who already have money or sponsored pros who get to travel all the time. it should always be about talent not money. online now is a viable way to run tournaments, it wasn't before but now it is and it should be done that way, let everyone participate and get the best players not the richest

[@WT83]

At that point it's less skill and just who has the richest sponsors. I get why some people loved it. They lived in countries where there's like 6 tournaments within a 4 hour cheap flight. It's a hyper advantage vs someone who lives where there's zero tournaments and the closest one is like 12 hours/$1300 away. I get why people would be upset to lose that cheat code but I think things are better overall for it.

[@chrismyco7950]

the tour is trash honestly. SFV tour prepandemic was so amazing. so many storylines would develop.

[@spectri1990]

i feel that even with the point system we would still see the same people at the tournament. it only makes it hard for players who are not signed because they would have to travel to all these events in order to make it in. just look at uma. the guy went to one tournament and took capcom cup. who knows if he would've have the ability to pay for all those trips in order to qualify because. tekken 8 still has that format and its already getting stale every tournament looks the same depending on who got nerfed.

[@beam5655]

UMA went to every offline premier and never placed higher than 25th. Capcom Cup should reward consistency and offline play. They've fixed a lot of the issues from last year, but it's still not as good as it once was.

[@spectri1990]

@@beam5655 ok lets just say he went to every offline event. he dominated the tournament he won. and without a shadow of a doubt he was the best player at capcom cup beside the second place person chris wong. he deserves that win not to mention the people with consistency. mena lost in his first bracket of loser. punk didnt qualify, angry and big bird didnt make it out of pools. kakeru didnt qualify. the point system rewards people that are signed or has a lot of cash to blow for travel. at least this way if you're good enough to take a tournament you atleast by taking a tournament you've shown you can beat everyone why should you have to travel unless you want to

[@beam5655]

@@spectri1990 UMA didn't show he could be at everyone, because Capcom Cup's format is terrible. He got one of the easiest groups which everyone predicted he'd win, then got an easy first round winners match. From there he beat Leshar and Chris Wong twice, that's it. Yes those are two strong players, but Capcom Cup should be a gauntlet of strong players (like it used to). I don't even think UMA is bad or anything, he had good results in Asian tournaments. But he was not among the best of the best, and if he had to play more top players, especially ones from outside his region, I promise you he's not winning Capcom Cup. A couple months later he got 129th at Evo Japan.

[@ΚρανίΩ]

@@beam5655bro what season 1 chris wong was top 3 players in the world with mena and possibly xian. leshar won in the hardest bracket, uma still won against top level opponents and if you didn't know uma's training partner was chris wong. he not only isn't a bad player, he's one of the best you just didn't know him which is why you still 5 months later downplay his acheivement which is ridiculous

[@beam5655]

@@ΚρανίΩ He beat two top players, maybe three if you count Rainpro. The format was dumb, at something like EVO or EWC you have to beat 6+ top level players in a row. For 1 million dollars, Capcom Cup should require just as tough a path. You shouldn't be able to luck into an easy group because all groups should be stacked. And I get that Chris Wong is his training partner, that's part of the reason he did so well against him. I'm not trying to insult UMA, I'm trying to show that Capcom Cup is a bad format, which matters because of how disproportionately it's weighted in terms of prize money.

[@AokoKalajian]

Do you think a point system could help like your placements in events give you points then capcom gose down the list of points starting at the top till they have anouth players for there last event

[@wildzide]

Capcom wants CapCup to be like a "World Cup" type of tournament. In a point based system you would only see the strongest regions represented and they clearly dont want that.

[@quangpham2031]

World Cup is dumb. I would always argue against it for every single sports or pseudo-sports. How do you justify allocations anyway? It's just dumb on so many level. See football. Absolute garbage tournament with fake hype generated from nostalgia.

[@MikeyFamine]

$ 895,682

[@almiser]

which is very close actually, but better repartition, thanks for the result.

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

Prize Pool is bad for players, good for fans. It's really that simple.

[@cltmck]

It's not good for fans if you like to see the best compete against the best frequently and in person which used to be a thing, especially in the peak SF4 days. Capcom Cup having regional qualification means even the big grand final is going to have qualifiers who have no business being there and players good enough to win the whole thing not qualifying. The current structure is worse for almost everyone, imo.

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

@@cltmck I'm only speaking on the prize pool for the tournament. That's a different different discussion entirely.

[@interceptingfist5682]

In the peak of sf4, no one was winning a million dollars or 300k at ewc. People better consider getting jobs. There's lots of online tournaments. ​@@cltmck

[@rogercoello6801]

That format is done in a lot of sports; for example, it is done in soccer, and this isn't that weird.​@cltmck

[@rogercoello6801]

In soccer, you have regional qualifiers, which produce teams that might not be good enough, or teams that don't deserve it, but it is what it is.

[@quangpham2031]

So that's why SF6 tournaments are so bad! I am not some SF mania so I was completely oblivious of the tour structural changes. This is so stupid. The premiers are so shit because there aren't enough pros at any of them to really get convinced that someone is the best. Capcom cup is so shit because all the random undeserved allocations, creating lopsided matches.

[@rogercoello6801]

I think the reason Capcom or other companies create this tournament with a prize pool is for marketing, they are not doing it because they want to give money to the best players, they want the news to report that this big video game tournament where you can win 1 million, and they want to promote it all over the world, they want to market the game all over the world.

[@henryludvor6275]

Aside from this, I don't see why people would want to even waste their time competing for a circuit where it becomes worthwhile for only one person. I would even say to hell with anything Capcom runs, and support your local events. CPT has become unwatchable now.

[@ButterflyFairyPrincess888]

Welp! 🙃

[@coloradostatesenatorsteven7443]

that L really hit you didnt it

[@ninjaniknik6136]

It would be funny to think of an alternate reality where Nephew won last night and this video was ranting in the exact opposite direction

[@azizkash286]

what happened?

[@misplaydave]

I hate 3 day events, it’s too long. FGC needs to change that

[@HwanTheLight]

The FGC can't exactly increase the amount of hours there are in the day can they? When there are open tournaments that allow anyone to sign up they could potentially have hundreds and thousands of players competing. There's only so many so much space/set-ups/TOs that a single event can host. A lot of these major level events also host tournaments for other fighting games as well, so that can double/triple/quadruple the amount of competitors depending on how many games are run. In order to make 1 day major/supermajor events work you would have to tournaments be invitationals to limit entrants, only be single elimination brackets, every set is a first to 1 win, and players have to play for 12+ hours straight. Oh, and not to mention we wouldn't be able to watch most of our favourite players play on stream because 99% of the tournament would take place on off-streaming set ups. Not to mention all the different games would have to run simultaneously so if you were a fan of both Street Fighter and Tekken then too bad, you only get to watch 1 event. Yeah... I don't think you really understand exactly what you're asking for. One day events work for smaller tournaments that only run 1 game. Which is why a lot of online tournaments can do one day events, and a lot rarer for super major events like evo, combo breaker, CEO, etc to be one day events.

[@misplaydave]

@@HwanTheLight for EVO and pro tour finals I understand. Other events don’t need to run more than 4 games. Plus less days means TOs save more money without paying staff, venue fee, and Internet for the extra day. 2 days is more than enough.

[@misplaydave]

You don’t need Sunday finals just top8

[@HwanTheLight]

@@misplaydave There already are smaller locals and online tournaments that are 1 day long. The only tournaments that need to be 2-3 days long are the majors/super majors like CEO, Combo Breaker, etc. Why should the FGC just stop holding tournaments for all the other great fighting games people are playing except for just 4? Sure, there might be money to be saved by holding shorter and smaller events - and without actually seeing the accounting on these events we can only speculate. But my understanding is the events ability to attract sponsorships and partners is dependent on how big and how many entrants these tournaments have. So I don't necessarily think that holding smaller and shorter events is going to be universally beneficial for TOs. The thing is there already are a tonne of single day events online. ICFC, TNS, TOL - and these are weekly tournaments as well. I'm all for there being more smaller shorter single day events, but trying to get rid of the supermajor yearly highlight tournaments is a terrible idea. We currently live in a world where we can enjoy both one day and three day tournaments, why would you want to get rid of that?

[@julberndt]

which is the song is playing?

[@julberndt]

i was thinking about it and thinking is really good song but now i'm thinking, i knew it, from what game, and then i remembered, i think is some of the persona 5

[@TheTourage]

Unionize lol

[@EliosMoonElios]

I always hate how the top 3 get any decent price the rest basically get nothing, that scare the non-rich/top players to even enter a tourney, the practically are wasting their money in translations, food and stay. I wish the 20 top places of participants get a decent price to make non-rich/Top players go knowing they can get a piece of the cake and not just go for the sponsorship.

[@antoniotruong5647]

The public like nice round numbers. There's a reason why $1 million is a big deal. It's news worthy and generates press coverage/interests. Nobody is going to write an article on $900K.

[@elementonyoutube6556]

I think Hosting locations has something to do with it. VEGAS just seems sleazy

[@lilkingMJ]

You’re absolutely right. Unfortunately I (a causal to the fgc) am tuning in specifically to see someone become a millionaire. The draw of that is just to much for Capcom to change imo So many ppl that never would have watched a tournament before will sit down to watch that. So many new fans. Myself included

[@beam5655]

Evo gets way more viewers and that's for 20k. The CPT has been gutted for very little gain.

[@lilkingMJ]

Fair. However, Evo is also a more popular event overall that most viewers have heard of before. The million dollar prize is the 1st I’ve heard of Capcom Cup. Before then I didn’t even know it existed. Now I’m tuned. That and SF6 being a fun viewing experience makes me want to watch every Capcom Cup now

[@farawaygaming9675]

They need to spread that money around. The fighters should "strike". You're the ones getting people to tune in, watch and care about these events. You guys put in so many hours and such a grind and make it to this top 1% level and they give you bread crumbs!? Nah, the winner doesn't bring in the views themselves, sure give them the lion share but more of that money needs to goes around.

[@PrincipalSkinner3190]

I don't think you know how striking works lol. Another player would just fill the void.

[@interceptingfist5682]

LMAO go on strike for playing games? Lol there will just be another player to take the spot, even if they're trash. You sound like someone who's never worked a hard day in their life with this take. Playing video games for money is a privilege m

[@henryludvor6275]

I'm all for a boycott if this is going to be the new norm going forward. CPT has become less and less exciting since the SFV days, and while game has significantly improved, the CPT has become near unwatchable to how poorly managed that capcom runs their circuits. No one gives a damn about online tournaments - I'll say this straight up. If this ends up being CPT's last year due to low viewership, then great. I hope EWC completely takes over since they have 2 years proven track record of running exciting circuits that are a spectacle to watch. Hopefully they end up putting more money into SF6 that it becomes worthwhile and sustainable for players to pursue, unlike the CPT.

[@farawaygaming9675]

You're the child that knows nothing. I know you're jealous of them and want to discredit their hardwork but to get at the level they are at, they probably put in more time and dedication than you ever put into anything in your short little life. Capcom isn't just giving away free money, people like Nephew, Punk, Tokido etc that put so much time and effort to promote themselves and be a draw to for people to watch them. Its no coincidence that online tournaments plaster their face and names on their titles and thumbnails to get clicks and views. If you think its so easy, go ahead and stream SF6 on twitch right now. Let me know if you get into the double digits in viewers. Losers, you guys just came to hate on them out of jealously. You dont care about what they do and how much they spend for hotels and travels and hours they work a day. Man did like 15hrs at Cream city. Dont know why I'm wasting time even entertaining you children.

[@reportimortal]

You know why? Cliche some would say, but I blame "diversity hiring". They chose different shades instead of actual smart people. That woman reading everything she was saying about the game on the last presentation says it all to me. She doesn't Fing know the product she is working with at all.

[@WT83]

The prize money distribution is poor because they didn't exclusively hire white men. The logic adds up.

[@LJSheffRBLX]

Nephew, Very funny video!

[@jballoregon]

Maybe less popularity for Street Fighter 6? Generally less money in the sport now?

[@Gleapgoogleplusisgone]

Street fighter 6 has been absurdly successful it's much more popular than the widely hated sf5. So that's not the cause.

[@МирославКръстев-с7и]

it's way more popular than SF5 or other fighting game titles

[@beam5655]

There's more money in the SF6 season than SFV, it's just all in for first place in Capcom Cup.

[@matthewbutler9093]

I'm gunna share my probably unpopular opinion. I think the format is better for spectators. As someone wo watches every SF6 tournament (and I do mean EVERY) I get sick of seeing the same players and characters in top 8 of everything. Giving Punk and Mena a reason to be seen more rarely for a while is good for me the viewer. I also think having to actually win 1st place to qualify makes The Cup, that much more competitive. However, I will very much so agree though, that Capcom needs to pay ya'll more. And no I don't think they need to drop the Million dollar winner prize of CCC 2024 to do so. They just need to stop being greedy. This game is selling faster than it's peers and even faster than the franchises best selling game, SF5. No doubt it will eventually be the best selling SF game. Pair this with these ridiculous prices for characters, skins, music and create a character cosmetics, and there is literally no reason why Capcom cant shell out more money for these tournaments.

[@beam5655]

Why don't you like watching the best in the world go at it? Isn't that the whole point? Do you remember that famous USF4 match between Daigo and Momochi at Stuntest? Guess what, both those players had already qualified for Capcom Cup, but it was still worth it to travel for the points and better prize money. As a result, we got to see one of the best fighting game sets of all time. With this new system that probably won't happen anymore.

[@matthewbutler9093]

@@beam5655 Of course I like to see the best face each other, but there is so much competitive sf6, that ive already seen so many more punk and mena rd matches, then ive ver seen momochi and diago matches, and the circuits not even half over. This years Evo Grand Finals is one of my favorite matches of all time. Shit was gas.

[@beam5655]

@@matthewbutler9093 Yes I agree that Evo was great. And a big part of that was that almost every top player attended Evo.

[@LJSheffRBLX]

Nephew, Lets make videos together!