Year in reviewWe look back at the ups, downs, surprises and highlights in and around video games this year.2020 was a drug. You know it, I know it. It was in the midst of this chaotic year that the fighting game community found itself pushed out of the arcades, hotels and convention centers that competitors had grown accustomed to and the unpredictable world of online gambling. At first, organizers were unsure whether the community would survive, but it is now clear that its competitive spirit remains alive. It’s just a matter of fighting game developers being able to organize their own actions.
In the months before the covid-19 outbreak, the fighting game community functioned almost normally. Regional tournaments provided exciting moments on a regular basis, the Tekken 7 world finals concluded with a new villainand the prestigious Evolution Championship Series announced your 2020 schedule.
The first sign of trouble didn’t come until February 20, when a week Granblue Fantasy Versus tournament in Japan was canceled out of concern for what was then a new outbreak of a new coronavirus strain. Fighting game tournaments around the world quickly realized the dangers that covid-19 posed for their events, with some organizers openly concerned about the future of their events after the heavy financial blow of canceling venue contracts and reimbursing potential participants .
“Unfortunately, at the moment, it doesn’t look good to us”, organizer and veteran of NorCal Regionals Street Fighter competitor John Choi said Kotaku at the time. “We are able to deal with a few thousand dollars lost in sunk materials, labor and miscellaneous costs, but we cannot deal with the cancellation fee for the location for which the hotel is taking responsibility. This scam for NorCal Regionals is about $ 50,000, which we are unable to manage and will immediately bankrupt us. “
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From there, the community saw a cascade of canceled and condensed events. SNK indefinitely postponed it is King of Fighter XIV and Samurai Shodown championships. High level Tekken 7 The display between the teams representing Japan and South Korea was reduced after two Korean players chose to stay home instead of taking the risk of traveling. Final kombat, a year end Mortal Kombat 11 competition, canceled a last chance qualifier and reduced the audience in person. Capcom canceled the first half of the Capcom Pro Tour and eventually Evo give up for 2020.
While some organizers, as Rick Thiher from Combo Breaker, were hopeful that offline events were still in the cards for 2021, which still left players wondering what to do for the rest of the year. This void was soon filled by existing and recently established online competitions, but it was not the same. Since fighting games typically require split-second decision-making and the ability to execute strategies in mere frames, the inherent latency of online gaming has been a consistent obstacle to high-level competition in many games. With no way to play in person without risk of infection, the demand for competent netcode started to grow.
This wave of support, especially in relation to a technology known as “rollback” network code, did not fall on deaf ears. After one unofficial mod improved Street Fighter Vproprietary (and defective) rollback network code, Capcom tried similar improvements internally, although this did not stop best players to give up official competitions. Bandai Namco did the same for Tekken 7, with slightly better results. Classic games like Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R and Garou: Mark of the Wolves received the rollback network code via post-release patches and saw huge peaks in your online player bases. Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works since then promised that next Guilty Gear Strive will use the rollback network code.
Unfortunately, not every fighting game developer is so connected to the community. When a group of Super Smash Bros. Melee fans created Slippi, a third-party program who added the rollback network code to the old school platform fighter through the Dolphin emulator, it seemed that the obstacle Smash community finally got a light at the end of the tunnel. But the first major online tournament to use the mod, The Big House, was forced by Nintendo to cancel its competition after the corporation found out, they would be emulating the 19-year-old GameCube game.
“I am very disappointed that a year [where] our only option is to play online during the pandemic and also when we are told that the path has been closed ”, organizer of The Big House Robin“ Juggleguy ”Harn said about Nintendo’s decision at the time. “I don’t have all the answers, but I still believe Melee will find a way. We always did and will go again. “
Nintendo’s authoritarian policies caused a firestorm in the Smash community that continues today, with many high profile players and personalities requiring the Japanese company to work with the community to resolve these issues, rather than ending the event completely. Nintendo said it was within its rights to throw its weight, since the use of “illegally copied versions” of The Big House Melee constituted a threat to their “intellectual property and brands”, which, as I noted earlier, is absurd bullshit.
This is not to say that fighting game developers have given up on official tournaments altogether. After the first half of the Capcom Pro Tour was canceled, Capcom resumed Street Fighter V play with an online variant that is set to be completed offline in the Dominican Republic next February. Street Fighter League, the company team Street Fighter V competition, also continued in earnest, although it was forced to postpone its start for several months and replace a handful of players who were unable to travel due to restrictions in their countries of origin or voluntarily left as a precaution. Bandai Namco has just closed a series of online national championships for Dragon Ball FighterZ in four countries. But none of these events was able to match the grassroots tournaments that the community missed in 2020.
Fighting games have long been hampered by the lack of a stable online game. When the only way to improve the basic experience is to travel offline, it adds another barrier of entry for newcomers. Several developers, including Killer InstinctIron Galaxy Studios and Mortal combatfrom NetherRealm Studios, made significant strides in implementing quality reversal netcode before 2020.
But that is no longer enough; the larger scene of the fighting game is actually a complex ecosystem of numerous smaller communities, and they require depth and variety to survive. Every company that makes fighting games needs to have a serious internal discussion about how their games are played and how to make the online experience look as close as possible to what players like offline.
If players are unable to return to face-to-face competitions soon, it is critical that the next generation of fighting games play online right. I don’t see much on the path of future growth for the competitive community if players, both newcomers and veterans, are forced to face current restrictions and the frequent and predictable frustrations of today’s online game. The strength of this community has always been linked to a consistent grassroots organization, which means making competition viable for the largest group of people possible.
When a virus keeps everyone stuck at home for an entire year (and counting), the next generation netcode is extremely important in achieving this goal. The community knows this, and publishers need to hear whether the continued existence of the competitive landscape is a priority.