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SFV EVO Finals Watched By 5m Unique Viewers.
- Thread starter MrCarter
- Start date
Maintenance
Member
What?
No, it really is.
Is there not a game you love playing but hate watching? Hearthstone is like that for me. The opposite has also happened as I did not like playing Soul Calibur V but really enjoyed competitive sets.
Free to watch
And the legacy SF (Especially IV) has build at EVO.
If EVO has reached his actual status it's primary due SFIV. So the franchise it's going to be attach to EVO as the main event for quite sometime despite how enjoyable to watch is and if other games are doing as much to grow EVO's mainstream appeal.
Not to add the mainstream recognition gap between SF/MK and other franchise in the US it's abismal. It's going to take some time to see other franchise being able to pull those TV numbers if they ever get featured.
katsubento
Member
It's already getting there with people trying to explain the viewership with any reason that ain't they find the game entertaining.
Watching is free.
Guess what billions of people watch soccer but few millions play it.
Yeah but people can learn football rules in three minutes. You need a lot more time to understand what is going on in a fighting game. How do those casual viewers enjoy it?
Try explaining the off side rule to someone who never play/watch soccer then tell me how long it takes
.SixMachine
Member
I would never tell anyone they are wrong for playing a game and haven't so far, since personally I've played some real poverty fighting games over the years. Some people keep doing something they don't like and are being negative nancys about , They'll be up front and tell you they don't like playing the game, but keep doing it over and over. Obviously they don't prefer the game, that is why they are complaining in the first place. It's the fact that they are simultaneously self-aware of their distaste of SF5 and acknowledge the quality other fighting games, while perpetually playing SF5 that makes them seem like contrarians. Whatever they feel are missing in mechanics with SF5 could be found elsewhere if they expanded their horizons, which they are completely aware of if they are competing because many fighting game communities share space at events.
You don't need much to understand that the first person to take all of the healthbar from another person wins the round.
Sounds hard. Is there a tutorial on how to do this? Do I just stop playing the game and move on, or...?『Inaba Resident』;245421675 said:
I know some people that are exactly like the ones you're describing, and they do play other games sometimes, but they always come back to SF5 because it actually is the game (and style of game) they prefer. Some of them wanted a game that offers more defensive options, and they got it. Thing is, it didn't play like Street Fighter, and it didn't have Street Fighter characters. Seems like that's always going to be the deciding factor for most people. Add to this that it's a game that's still very much in development. Do I think it was a mistake to release SF5 so soon, though? I don't. I wanted USF4 to be over ASAP. Do I think it's painful waiting for Capcom to make the changes I want in SF5? I do. Waiting always sucks. But the core game and mechanics are already something I prefer over every iteration of SF4. As far as me and other games go, I play Dragunov and Katarina in Tekken 7. GG, KoF, and I2 aren't my thing. Never liked Marvel and Infinite looks bad to me but we'll see about that one.
evil monkey
Member
Majority probably sees it as "player on the left needs to hit player on the right until they die and vice versa". In SFV's case, not understanding the mechanics probably makes it more enjoyable to watch.
Chronospherics
Member
By that logic, players would also buy the new game, because if the series is popular because of SFIV then they would buy the newest entry because of SFIV.
In general, I really don't think people are watching because of SFIV anymore.
katsubento
Member
I'd wager of all multiplayer games that could be on TV, fighting games would be the easiest to understand to a casual person or someone who doesn't even play any games.
League of Legends? Nope. Starcraft? Nope. COD? Nope. Overwatch? Nope. they all would get the...I don't understand what's happening, and with the FPS, it would be too hectic for them, plus...it keeps on changing players etc.
Fighting game...two people duking it out. Yeah, they can probably understand that.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
I bought the game but I never ever play it anymore. I LOVE to watch it though. Shits amazing.
I am kinda dubious about how long the TV viewers are actually sticking around (as opposed to curiosity for a few minutes, then changing the channel), but you are correct. People are watching because e-sports are better funded, and as a direct result are better advertised, much broader exposure and have better production values these days. People watch other people play videogames now, it's a thing, especially with the younger demographics. Was much less of a thing 4 years ago.
The reason why Street Fighter is so watchable is nobody really needs two cartoons beating each other up explained to them. I'd wager not only is Street Fighter easier to follow than most videogames for spectators, it's easier to follow than most sports for the uninitiated.
Be better than this, man.
ãInaba Residentã
Banned
I don't think it's hard but I've heard weirder things.
QisTopTier
XisBannedTier
Fighting games can be learned in less time. Just like Soccer/Football you can easily learn from just watching the game be played. Both people have a health bar, getting hit depletes the health bar, depleting the opponents health bar wins you the round, 2/3 rounds win you the game, 2/3 games win you the set. That's the basics of practically every fighter. Then you have to get into things like meter/enhanced moves, crossups/mixups, and the meta of the game you're watching. But that's also the same for that sport as you have to learn about penalties, what gives you different cards, how substitutions work, the roles of the players, etc.
Edit: Here's a game that many people don't watch, Arcana Hearts 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUvy3PCFJg
It follows the rules I posted. As the action is going on the commentators are explaining what's going on with the characters. They speak on mechanics like burst and, even without explaining what it is, you see it's a move that knocks the opponent away. Fighting games are very self-explainatory and a lot of time the commentators explain the mechanics for newcomers.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Uh what? No way you can learn it in 3 minutes. The basics maybe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMz23Md1GhU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UTpAeiH5Us
I love this one the most, but this years was really good.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
It hit 2 million? Congrats.
DarkoMaledictus
Tier Whore
B-but SF V was a failure, GAF told me that
It was a failure... people still like evo, I like watching the players even if for me the game sucks.
SargerusBR
I love Pokken!
No wonder. SFV is super entertaining to watch imo. One of eSport's best ambassador out there. It's fast, easy to pick up and you can somehow follow the action (unlike in MvC3 or any anime fighting game). Just saw HGC (Heroes of the Storm Championchip) yesterday and that was night and day compared to EVO. Yes it's a MOBA with five players per team but that's no excuse why there is 1 hour of talking and only 10min. of gameplay (and that almost EVERY match). It was awful.
SixMachine
Member
I agree, at Dreamhack there was always a HOTS stage and people in the bleachers watching didn't really give me the impression they were hyped up, but at SF5 events I have been to in person, the audience is much more receptive, since the momentum is almost tangible that you instinctively know when something hype happens. That's the strength of fighting games, many times you just know when something awesome is happening, like Tokido scoring a perfect against Punk, or his clutch moments against FChamp with a pixel of life. Tekken 7 also has been very good at it, especially with the slo-mo.
Rice-Eater
Member
It was well deserved. I thought this was the 2nd best SF top 8 since the SF4 era began. Not only were there many close and competitive matches, but also some good story lines to help build up the drama surrounding these matches. SFV still isn't in a good state. But moments like this give me hope that this game can climb out of the rut it's in.
He's not wrong, you don't need to like every game you enjoy watching, I didn't like playing SFIV much but watching it was still pretty fun. Same goes for almost every sport I watch during the Olympics too! ;p
Out of curiosity, what's you're favorite one?! 2015 was really good, my favorite during SFIV's run, even though grand final was kinda ruined with stick problems.
I also loved to watch SFIV and didn't care to play it that much. I understand that. What I didn't do was watch SFIV all the time and then turn around and call it a bad game.
Rice-Eater
Member
The one you just mentioned, 2015 is still easily the best IMO. Those matches were straight up legendary. I think that EVO top 8 alone had the longest BO3 set and the longest GF set of all time in SF4 tournament history. But long in a good way(I know some will disagree with this lol).
It's just too bad that the epic matches in WF, LF, and GF kind of overshadowed how great the rest of the top 8 actually was. There were amazing matches by AiAi and Nemo, PR Rog, and Nemo, and Momochi vs Tokido.
lucebuce12
Member
Team Shill is just celebrating after a victory against Team Haters.