Stigmas have a role too. VF has the stigma of hard and complex and it isn’t, especially vf5fs. I saw someone say tekken is harder. Then you have crowd stigma or not wanting to be “seen” playing it because of the perceived ideas about that group and not wanting people to think you’re one of them. There’s also the “feel weird playing this” that actually I saw for p4u recently lol. There’s people who play evo gamesvthat don’t go, they want to feel a part of the larger group.
i think the visual simplicity in understanding what’s happening with marvel 3’s action is a large part in why people really enjoy watching it. even what’s considered ‘high level’ you can generally tell what is happening or what the players want to happen. it’s easy to comprehend for folks who don’t play the game why chris g is a “better” morrigan player than random dude who can consistently do the motions other than results and name recognition. i’ve had a lot of folks tell me “they don’t want to play the game, but they like watching it” which is 100% understandable considering how stupid it can be- there’s some aspect that makes 'em enjoy watching it whether it’s “the subtleties of the mindgames” or “how they manage to control the screen so well despite all the chaos”
also just visually it looks really, really nice. the visual and audio design of the game is really impeccable so there’s that aesthetic factor to it.
that’s not really related 100% to popularity in terms of people playing but it still helps a lot due to the community factor- folks who don’t play whatever game will still stick around to watch 'em just for the play.
Are we talking about the same series? The game I remember had hard movement techniques (minami step, box step etc.), evading throw escape that required you to buffer in 3 different throws in a very short time (a task only few players could do consistently) etc. etc.
The stigma was true back in the days of the VF4 series.
BUT… now things are different. VF5:FS is a much easier game that regular humans can play as well, and that’s what people need to be informed about.
Again, that’s your personal preference speaking, and I’m not sure the majority of the marvel spectator crowd feels the same.
Most of them don’t see “guard cancel X-Factor->guaranteed punish->2 mixups on incoming characters->victory” as some sort of epitome of strategy in the genre. They like it as entertainment because it’s stupid, it’s funny, it’s a blowup. They like marvel because the game is built in a way that anything could happen, which creates entertaining situations, but not necessarily sophisticated tactical ones.
One day, AE, Marvel, KOF and TTT2 will get replaced by casual party game fighters that stream monsters will deem more hype to watch.
That will be a very sad day for the FGC.
I think that one of the main things is if it has the ability to get you on the edge of your seat filled with hype just waiting to see whats gonna happen next
I should clarify that I mean popular TO PLAY. As in gets a lot of entrants. Not popular with spectators.
When someone says they don’t like PLAYING a game because it’s “not hype”, what are they really saying? That it’s not exciting to play. How is that not a valid criticism? Really all this whining about “hype” seems much ado about nothing to me. If you’re talking about playing the game, it’s a valid criticism. If you’re talking about watching the game… well, who cares what stream monsters think to begin with? Is there any evidence of a causative link between stream monster popularity and how popular the game is competitively?
Obviously there is because the numbers shoot up for viewers for games like SFIV and UMVC3 (especially when top level players are playing in a big event) whereas it’s tougher to get the numbers really big for games like KOF13, VF5 or other games. It’s a significant factor but just like one of the 15 significant factors that gets really convoluted to keep track of or really explain in depth.
Well, if you start charging Bison dollars for the stream, then yeah you’re also concerned about having as much audience as possible.
And if you know that the audience doesn’t care about a game like SFxT or any other game that has a weird standpoint in the community (maybe because of the lack of hype), then you have a very good reason to take that game out and include a game that offers more for the viewers money.
First of all you should not care about stream monsters as the majority of them are just out to troll.
If you are talking about popular to play well from what i understand there are two main types of entrants at a tourney, those in it to win the prize and those in it to play some games and have some fun. If you are in it to win all you would care about is what the prize is but if you are their to enjoy yourself then the real attraction of the game is just simply how fun it is to play.
Simply and assumption but, aside from Mexico, I don’t think a lot of people really know who the big guys for KOF are. And even more so with VF.
Correlation is not causation yada yada yada
And fan following.
Game can create some following but usually most tournament successful games ride on a back of mirrions fans of brand\company.
For the fighting games company name usually as big (factor) as brand.
I’m sure some people out there REALLY like the games and would play them even without big scene/streams/pop culture relevance etc. and I have no problem with that, but a fuckton of people won’t.
I don’t doubt Viscant’s love for SFXT for example, but I do doubt many other people’s positive opinions on it. I think they are full of shit and while they try to justify the MECHANICS they play the game for anything but.
I look at the top fighting games the US plays, then I look at the top fighters JP’s into and I find this question to be a conundrum.
That’s what I am seriously scared of.
It’s getting into those ridiculous spectator vs Player/tournament organizer arguments that are just plain stupid.
If you look at marketing principles the popularity of fighting games (as well as all brands and products) makes a lot sense. The markets of major brands are usually divided by three leaders. For example, SSF4 and UMVC3 are the two big games. They’re the Coke and Pepsi of the fighting games. Meanwhile, you have all the other games KOF, P4U, Tekken, etc. etc. trying to compete for third spot. They’re sort of the Cadbury-Schwepps (Dr. Pepper) of fg’s.
Nostalgia, I’m sure accounts for the majority of their popularity. I’m also sure, many people love the idea of playing Marvel characters in a video game. They’re both also very accessible/easier for new players to pick up. There’s a lot of reasons for people to play them. Some people want to join the bandwagon, some people don’t want to invest time into other games, some want to play what they already know. Etc etc.
If you’d like to learn more about this perspective check out this book. It’s a bit outdated but the principles really make sense, and you will start to notice the principles in the brands and products you purchase.
That day is very very far away when was the last time you saw Smash on stream or at a major tournie? I can think of one in the last year and i can’t even remember the name of the tournament.
The only game on the horizon is P.S Allstars and for what it’s worth i don’t think it will get much attention from the competitive circuit. Stream monsters watch the streams because they show the games the like (and they get an opportunity to moan about the games they don’t). I think it’s a pretty immovable niche at the mo. Maybe casual party fighters will form a sub-strata within the FGC!
What makes a game popular in tournaments? Players!
For example, Kids love Diago!
He’s like the fucking Ronald McDonald of the FGC.