The FGC is determined to protect its sporting landscape, even if it means staying broke

A famous broadcaster Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkampwho is well known for playing well in League of Legends and being at the top, has announced that he will enter the competition Street Fighter 6 and, to begin with Come on. And the FGC is furious.

On air, Tyler1 announced that he was going to Evo in Las Vegas (which he had to explain to his fans, who apparently had no idea what it was). During the Open Qualifiers, Tyler1 competes with him Ludwig Ahgren in the demo game, another non-Street Fighter 6 player.

“Let’s not forget. I only played Street Fighter for one month, I got to 1550. Officially,” said Ludwig. He will also receive training before Evo.

However, this statement did not impress the FGC. Instead, it revealed that he had slowly you played the game. And if there’s one thing FGC doesn’t like, it’s tourists.

FGC is often in a strange place. It started in a dirty yard in the 1980s, just a sweaty mess wrapped in darkness. Over the decades, FGC has not really been transformed into the headlines of the stadium. These were tournaments at people’s homes or by individual tournament organizers using their own money. The prize pools were funded by people.

These were players who lived fighting games. They had not seen the money. They did not see the glory. They compete for years just to defeat the opponents, to improve, because they love the game. To this day, fighting games are much smaller than other titles, and Super Smash Bros. it is still not supported by Nintendo, and games like Guilty Gear -Strive- are ignored except by dedicated fans and competitors.

Street Fighter 6 shines a little on this underground vibe. Backed by Capcom, Street Fighter 6 saw organized circuits and $1 million in prizes. However, Capcom’s attempt to expand the platform beyond the fanatical FGC has backfired.

First, the pay-per-view format. While it was active in Japan, fans of the fighting game in Europe and America were angry with the idea of ​​paying even $10 to watch the tournament. Most said that the hype surrounding Capcom Cup 12 is completely dead. No one cared who won. While some argued that Capcom was just trying to make money, others felt that Capcom was disrespecting the loyal community and fans by doing so.

Now, Tyler1 has been invited to Evo to do a game show, a streamer with over 5.5 million followers. The response from the FGC was not very positive. Many pointed out that “Saudi Arabia paid him to go” rather than Tyler1 going because of his love for the game. Some said they don’t even know who he is and others said he was banned from League of Legends for being a poisoner in the past.

Added one FGC player: “I’ll care if he comes out of the pools.”

However, some in the FGC began to question the criticism surrounding Tyler1’s showmanship. It appeared that the FGC was “merely a gatekeeper” and wasted another opportunity to grow the scene.

“FGC is actually the dumbest community at times,” said one Reddit player. “They do nothing but protect the expansion of the genre by using natural methods like Tyler1. Then they complain when the companies that make their games close them or sell them for Saudi money.”

However, the FGC is very selective about who will represent its games. They prefer the scene to be closed rather than “spectators” broadcasting their game to thousands of viewers.

Another FGC player said: “Not everyone knows him in League. I, for one, had never heard of him until I saw his clip a few months ago. The clip? He was the one playing SF6 and calling everyone who enjoys fighting games a jerk. The next thing I know, the only clips I see are him running around in SF6 and blocking opponents every time he loses.”

While being offensive is part of Tyler1’s schtick, it’s not what FGC wants associated with the game. A scene fueled by love, grind, anger, and determination doesn’t really want to let Tyler1’s fans find it funny to tease people in the game again. If your scene is small, sometimes you want to protect it. You don’t want it to change, especially for the worse.

Even one toxic stream from Tyler1 can reshape the entire community and tournament vibes.

But, Tyler1 he did He says he was receiving training. I’ll wait and see how he does on the Evo. See if he has changed. See if you can prove the passion and passion for FGC. See if it brings in more people and money without changing anything special about the Street Fighter 6 scene. It definitely can.

Or he can just get angry on stage to watch. And it’s possible.

“I’m glad Tyler1 is back in Street Fighter, but to have two e-celebrities who may not be perfect people in the fighting game scene do a MAIN STAGE SHOW MATCH at F***ING EVO is really weird. We’re going to have two noobs, from unrelated corners of the internet, put it up on the MAIN STAGE ESTAGE OF EVO OF EVO.”

And there is a problem. Tyler1 can play Street Fighter all he wants. And he can go to Evo. But to lift him up on the stage when he is not yet playing… That sounds like an insult to the players who have been working hard. For the top players and broadcasters of FGC who tie fighting games.

But I guess that’s the new Evo MO: Attention over love. Viewing over authenticity. A lot of claims were made when RTS bought Evo.

“We will continue to invest in the things that matter to our community, uplift and empower FGC members and work diligently with our game developer partners to ensure that Evo benefits all stakeholders,” they said at the time.

Is it “uplifting and empowering FGC members” to promote Tyler1 rather than a Street Fighter 6 expert or broadcaster? I would say no. Fortunately, you can ignore the game and watch other people compete. That’s probably the game, since it’s not like you can stop Evo from trying to expand too quickly.

That creepy arcade vibe is gone, but the romance is gone.