I cannot fathom how this move is better for them than a larger audience with baked-in ads. This isn‘t some huge event with mainstream appeal. I‘d hope they ran the numbers, but nowadays I‘m not so sure.
Fans Left Speechless as Capcom Locks Street Fighter 6 Finals Behind Paywall
Submitted 3 weeks ago by simple@piefed.social to games@lemmy.world
Comments
caut_R@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The whole point of running an event like this in the first place is that’s an enormous ad for the video game that they sell. Putting up a paywall in front of it just seems counter productive.
mohab@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
This isn‘t some huge event with mainstream appeal.
It is in Japan, but the whole idea is archaic anyway. Reeks of old, greedy executive BS. So short-sighted in terms of both profitability and goodwill.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Reeks of old, greedy executive BS. So short-sighted in terms of both profitability and goodwill.
TBH, this seems like most Japanese companies in a nutshell
RogueAozame@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
I watch a lot of fgc creators and the general consensus is the game is simply so much bigger in Japan then the rest of the world and the Japanese will pay to watch it. Japanese SF6 content creators have better viewership numbers than the biggest fgc content creators like Max and Sajam. Japanese only tournaments are almost as big viewership wise as some worldwide tournaments like evo. So essentially it comes down to the majority of the audience is in Japan and because of that they can actually expect to convert a lot of that audience to pay per view because of japanese consumers habits. They already did it for street fighter league japan as well I would assume to test the waters for this. It doesn’t bode well for them internationally but a lot of Japanese companies dont really care about international audiences. Unless the international audience is too big to ignore which for strest fighter 6 doesnt appear to be the case.
caut_R@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Interesting, thanks for sharing
mohab@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I agree with what Max said: this only makes sense for Japan, which’s bizarre because they made a ton of effort to broaden the audience of SF6 outside of Japan and it’s a shame to have that jeopardized out of greed.
Some old, evil executive saw all the goodwill they’ve been building up and got upset, probably.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Eh…
They’ve been making a lot of effort to expand the “old” FGC (so basically Street Fighter) outside of Japan for a few years now. It hasn’t really taken hold (and I am going to pretend it is because everyone is like me and gets off on watching Guilty Gear!) and we see more and more Saudi money being pumped into “Western” FGC events.
So I can see an argument for doubling down on their core audience to lock that in.
And… PPVs ARE kind of making a comeback in The West. People are increasingly annoyed by “needing so many streaming services”. And, at least in pro wrestling, AEW have kind of been cleaning up with their 4-6 PPVs a year. And the human trafficking front known as WWE are starting to shift back that way as a result of, among other things, their ESPN deal. Companies have been desperate for more and more “event television” as streaming takes over (hence why AEW and WWE can get such lucrative tv contracts) and nothing is more “event” than paying 30-70 bucks to sit around the TV on a Saturday night.
So I think it is less “a few greedy execs want to burn away the goodwill” and more… the overall industry trends.
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
And people will still pay it, just like people bought Switch 2s in record numbers and just like the ROG Ally X (Xbox handheld) will sell well.
I’m sure those who say they won’t are telling the truth, but most of them were never planning on buying it. Those who were will roll over like they always do.
It’s sad, but I’m somewhat rooting for $80-100 games and other BS like this, because I know at some point the frog will jump out of the water, we’ll have another video game crash, and after a few years things will return to sanity. But unlike last time, we all have huge backlogs — it won’t hurt gamers nearly as much as it will big publishers. I think it may even be good for indies.
What I’m really rooting for though: more indie games, more weird games, more dumb games that appeal to a niche and are loved by them for years to come that most people don’t get. A shift away from platform exclusivity. A shift away from Windows to both Mac and Linux. Something like Proton (LInux tool for emulating Windows games) on Mac. I’m fine with gaming being fine on Windows and Xbox, but it should still be fine if you don’t want to throw any money at Microsoft.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
This is something that used to be free and now costs about $40. Outside of Japan, a lot of people won’t pay it and will just not watch the finals.
mohab@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
New Lemmy pasta?
MeekerThanBeaker@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They should’ve stuck with making endless Street Fighter II variants. I prefer those anyway.
mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
yup. gimme marvel vs capcom 2 quality any day over sf3 etc.
darkstalkers is legit too.
mohab@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Love Darkstalkers! Capcom better be working on bringing it back!
ramble81@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
One of my biggest disappointments was when MvC:3 came out. I was hoping for something to top 2 and then they dumbed it down so monumentally.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How would that have changed this situation?
aeronmelon@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Do.
Not.
Preorder!
TachyonTele@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Solid advice.
But what does it have to do with this topic?mohab@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Yo, open world RPG folks, stay home on this, it’s all button mashing nonsense to your “elevated” brain anyway 😂 We got this.
Just maybe read the article first next time.
whereyaaat@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
Doesn’t surprise me at all.
E-sports people are easy to take advantage of.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Wait until you hear about regular sports people.
MITM0@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Really capcom ? You too ? What now ? Nintendo joining in on the fun ?
whereyaaat@lemmings.world 3 weeks ago
Nintendo always sucked ass.
Capcom was one of the few old greats that still had some goodwill left.
Now it’s clear their analysts are using that goodwill to increase next quarter’s profits.
We only have “they’re a business and they need to make money!” rhetoric to blame.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You too? Who else is doing this in the e-sports space?
mintiefresh@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Pretty sure they would have been better off just making more cosmetics and charging us for it.
There is no way I will support this from Capcom.
answersplease77@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How else would they tax their 20,000 stupid audience to brag about $2-millions prize for 1st place?
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 2 weeks ago
Tracaine@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ll bet they aren’t speechless. I bet they have lots of things to say. In fact I bet they’re the opposite of speechless…speechful.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Fans are definitely not left speechless, as they’ve got a lot to say about it in this article.
Trex202@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
They have lots to say, but no speeches
fluxion@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Which is technically less, but speechnone would be more appropriate then
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Yeah… Games are a demographic week known for holding their opinions to themselves…/s
jellygoose@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
GaMeRS rise Up!!!