EVO 2012 lineup AKA what will be the biggest games a year from now?

Evo Championship Series
1

UMVC3 and SFXT are a given, so let’s talk about the rest.

I’m going to express my opinion which you may or may not agree with and by all means I want to hear your arguments if you disagree, but keep this honest and not just based on your personal preference.

Will SFXT lure the player base of the next SF4?
It really depends on how SFxT turns out.
When MVC3 it stole a lot of the SF4 player base and got more entrants at tournaments because it’s really fun and not dry, but later when the game turned out to be more “lol random” then we thought then the numbers became pretty even with SF4.
If SFxT will be as fun as MVC3 but not as silly, I could see it taking SF4’s spot.

Will SkullGirls get enough support from the community to make it into evo?
I hope so, but to be honest, the game is going to struggle with the usual bias against “all girl fighters” “animu fighter” “it doesn’t have Ryu in it” type of games.
The biggest problem that cripples FG in the west is not being a super familiar brand like SF, MK, Marvel comics etc.
Even if SkullGirls will be the best game of this generation, we are going to have to work extremely hard to push it, and the higher management of SRK will also have to help promoting it or it will never work.

Will MK9 survive the biggest test for it’s community, the “post-evo” era?
I don’t see this happening unless more people will start promoting the game like it’s their 2nd job like Tom Brady, Pig of The Hut and other key members do.
But even then, the problem relies in the fact that many of the big issues in the game cannot be fixed without making MK10 with a new engine and that won’t happen.
So basically the community is stuck pushing a flawed game that will still have some trouble making a serious impression on the rest of the FGC.

Will the Shift Continue?
I think the community can make BlazBlue stay, the question is the timing of the new version. If it hits console early enough we’ll be able to play “CS3” at Evo and all will be well. If we’ll have to play CS2 while watching the Japanese play CS3 in the arcades, you know it will be just like when we gave up on the official spot in the CT era.

Fate of The Iron Fist?
Same issue with Blazblue but with no optimism at all. TTT2 is not just an upgrade but a highly anticipated new installment. It will be exclusive to arcades for at least a year if not more, and if you know Namco’s history post 5.0 you know I’m right. So the community will enter a coma having to play T6 while the Asians and few lucky Americans play TTT2, and Evo, being 10 times larger ever since Capcom started the western FG boom, cannot afford to themselves to have hypeless Tekken tournaments like they did with 5.0. So I think Tekken will not be at Evo2012 but will comeback in full force to 2013 with a console TTT2.

13th Time a Charm?
I don’t want to shit on your parade but it ain’t happening. As much as I love being open minded to every fighting game out there, and as much as I respect people who are passionate about their favorite game and work their ass off to promote it, I really think KOF13 will not be very successful.
I’m not dissing the game itself, just the fact that SNK is unable make something that will be popular in larger circles than usual niche fanbase. Side tournament? Ok cool. Main game? Forget it.

Arucana Haato Sreeeeeee?
It’s cool being bitter and hating on Mr.Wiz with the whole “move on” fiasco, but reality speaks for itself. I expected to see some form of revival of interest after the game became accessible via PSN for a low price, but It seems like other games have stolen his spotlight.
Again another tragic tale of a great game that is 100 times harder to promote just because of its aesthetics. 0% chance of being a main game@Evo.

The Third Strike is what counts?
I’m gonna get flamed for this but no, 3S:OE will not be a main game at Evo2012.
Capcom has proven to us that they will push the big games hard into our throats but will ignore their own smaller games. They don’t care about HDR, MVC2HD prior to the sales aspect, and they will not care about the current small project 3S:OE. It will sell pretty well and that’s that. I think Goryus’ team is doing a great job, just like I thought Sirlin’s team did with HDR, but in the end 3S is still an old stale game. People tend to think that it will bring back an age of glory from the past, but after it comes out, the top tier fest will remind us why most people stopped caring about this a long time ago. It won’t be long until the top 8 at tournaments will be at least 6 Chuns.(Arcade perfect=slower=easier to hitconfirm dat c.mk SA2)

A 5th Tale of Souls and Swords?
The chance is there but it’s sooooooooooo slim, considering the track record of the series.
It will have to blow our minds with VF quality or some shit, which probably won’t happen.

Discuss.

2

Soul Calibur?

3

added. forgot about that.

4

There’s really no reason not to play SSFIVAE2012 @ Evo and just focus on SFxT so I really can’t see it losing the top spot… if SFxT takes over as the main game @ Evo it would be the 2nd version @ Evo 2013, especially if AE2012 is the final version (would be 18-20 months old by than and I’m sure the userbase would’ve found their new Yun to hate on) This does depend on it being well received but I can see this getting a lot more exposure internationally than say MVC3. For one you’ll probably see a lot more known Japanese players playing it (For Marvel it’s just Tokido, Mago and Daigo atm and only Tokido seems serious about it), GodsGarden crew might do their online events for it and you might see another console NSB meetup like NSB 17 (IIRC) was done on consoles for Super. All depends on the reception of course…

5

I don’t see SFxT as taking SF4’s spot…More like it would have a separate spot. And with that, it makes it harder for games with smaller followings to be part of the main stage.

I like how you already assume that there’s going to be a Super SFxT.

6

SFxT could probably get the SF4 fanbase since it will be the new thing, so It might be pointless to have both games at once, even though SFxT plays distinctly enough.

Skullgirls deserves to be at EVO and I think it has a honest shot at getting in because let’s face it, I doubt CS3 will be out on consoles by EVO, considering the time it took Arc to release Platinum and CS2. So that leaves a spot for a new, niche game like Skullgirls or KoFXIII, both which are most likely going to be quality titles.

As for MK9, I honestly don’t know if the DLCs and rebalances will be enough to keep the game going. Hell, wasn’t even Tom Brady pissed off at this game?

T6 will probably go away thanks to TTT2, which I doubt will be out for consoles before EVO. If SCV plays as good as it looks like it will, maybe it could take this spot.

7

I understand why you are skeptic about it and you may be right but look at it from a different point of view:
It looks like SF4, it has the same movement (footsies) as SF4, but it’s a cooler extreme version of it with easier, flashier combos and tag team.
It’s not like MVC3 which is a totally different game. SFxT is SF4 on steroids so it caters to the SF4 crowd. If it turns out to be really solid it could make SF4 seem boring and stale even to people who already like SF4.

What bothers MK players is not some overpowered character that will be fixed someday in a patch, but other more important things that come from the wack engine.

  1. No trades. Who wins a trade and why? Nobody knows.
  2. Invincible moves sometimes have some frames where they are not invincible.
  3. Hit collisions- A lot of random WTF moments happen during matches, like moves passing through each other.

When people go to a tournament and random crap happens it pisses them off and lowers their motivation to continue playing and supporting it.

8

There’s still no reason for people to drop SFIV even if they prefer SFxT. It would also be silly for Evo to drop the game which would get the most entrants… second most @ worst.

Of course there will be, and if it’s a hit in Japan it will come out via arcades first. (response overwhelming! arcade fans want it… but of course we had to add characters and change things up! First new fighters are Jun and Juri! Don’t know if it will come out on console, I talk to President of Capcom!! Keep tweeting yout support! shows blanka pic)

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Basically, that’s how I see it. It seems to have everything that makes SF4 good, on top of not having many things that make it bad. Sure, I’ll probably still play SF4, but personally I’d rather the community moved on if it turns out to be a really good game.

10

I know SCV will make it but KoFXIII better make it or somebody gonna geta hurt real bad

11

Anyway if Evo has a 5 game lineup for 2012…

SSFIVAE2012 (will still have the most entrants)
SFxT (close second and with momentem on its side…)
UMVC3 (I think it will tank in NPD but casuals ignoring it hardly effects us)
SCV (Namco showed this off for a reason, it’s out early 2012, TTT2 is prob Fall 2012)

Last one could be any out of Skullgirls, KOFXIII, BBCS (upcoming revision for Blazblue again) and MK9 (maybe 10?)

I agree and hope for the same but their not going to move on completely in the space of 3-4 months and AE2012 could only be 6-9 months old by Evo2012…

12

Don’t threads like these get locked? The whole guessing games that will be at EVO I mean.

AE2012 will remain simply because that’s what the majority of international players attend for. Unless Capcom screws up the rebalance more so, it’ll be the main event.

UMvC3 will be there unless they screw up the balance.

SFxT isn’t out yet. 2 franchise names attached to it mean it’ll be hot at first, will it generate enough interest and staying power in the competitive circuit? Who knows.

SCV - I thought there was some history between SC players and EVO?

TTT2 - won’t be out on consoles

CS2 will remain no doubt

KoF13 - I hope so

Skullgirls - It better

MK9 community proved it’s a game worthy for EVO, it’ll be back (if the players come)

SF3:3S OE - I’ll be happily surprised but pretty sure it won’t. It’s not “new”.

13

This thread is not about what we want but what we think that will happen.
What do you think can be done to make such an unpopular game a main EVO pick?

It’s not a thread for guessing the lineup just for the sake of it, but as a guideline to reflect on the situation of the western scenes of different games and the western FGC in general.

14

Tell everyone it’s made by Capcom :sunglasses:

15

To add another aspect to the equation:
Companies pushing games into EVO.
We have seen it happen with TVC, a niche game on a niche setup (requires a wii and an arcade stick for the wii to play) that wasn’t that great to begin with, and it got a spot cuz Capcom pushed it.
Even if the new SF4 loses popularity Capcom could still be pushing it and have 3 games @EVO like they did with SBO. (But I doubt they will do the same with 3SOE)
Also Namco is becoming to be more involved in EVO now so they could be pushing (the unwanted) T6 and SC5.

16

Namco would be silly to push T6 into Evo next year, more chance of them getting heaps of arcade setups for TTT2 than that… I’m sure they’ll push SCV into the line up though, hopefully it’s good.

17

SF4 :AE
SFxT (edit: can’t believe i forgot this)
BB CS2 (if there is an sequel it will be that Relius Clover is coming soon)
T6 (if TTT2 comes to consoles in time it will be that)
MK9 (this time with DLC characters allowed)
UMVC3
SkullGirls
KOF13
SCV
Aquapazza - Side Tournament (if made for console in time)

add more games don’t take away

18

I have an opinion on this, but I’d like to have all the past EVO lineups to look at as a reference before I post it. I feel like some of the trends then might apply to games now.

19

I would say SFxT will have the most entrants next year, because many people are already bored of SSF4 AE and they want something new. And I think a lot of Tekken players might try this game out as well, it could unite both fanbases, while SSF4 is mostly just for the SF fanbase.
SSF4 AE (2012 edition) will still have second most entrants I guess.

And don’t forget the hype factor, the first MK9 tournament had more viewers than MvC3 on the stream.

20

Personally, I don’t see anything big happening with Aqua Pizza considering its presentation and the fact that it’s not a Capcom game. If you have that up there, you might as well have Chaos Code.

I don’t even know if it could make it out of Japan.