Has anyone else lost interest in Fighting games?

Harald23 said:

Yes how long it will last tho? Cause there were no other notable new fighting games this year outside Street Fighter 30th Anniversary, and what else? SNK Heroines that is not even out yet, and Smash in december.

Yes there was BlazBlue and that is also already dying.

How many people are playing it right now?

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With the announcement of World Tour? Probably a lot longer than initially expected. I mean, sure casuals have already dropped the game, but it's just the nature of the genre.

Despite having a huge player population drop and not meeting sale expectations, Capcom is still happy with supporting SFV, likely thanks to costume sales and the competitive audience.

And stop saying Blazblue is dying, it's healthy as far as anime fighters go. You can't say it's dead when it had nearly 200 entrants as a side game at CEO.

You said fighting games and used Smash as an example? That's more of a party arena game as there are no rounds between and you use items. I play SFV, it's easy to pick up and play and you'll always have people online, and the new Soul calibur and DOA look great.

It happened with the loss of arcades for me. I miss the days of playing Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag with friends in my local movie theatre's arcade.

Silky said:

I can do a QCF with little hesitation on everything BUT that controller. It has input registration issues that will completely skip the df/bf inputs whenever I put it in so it'll only register as down, forward. KOF, the same issue for forward/back short hops. It just won't register sometimes despite me putting it in just as efficently as a DualShock 3. I know it's not me. The Xbone pad which has those obtrusive ridges in the design can manage to put through those same inputs with no interruptions.

Like what more do i have to do, record a video showing these same inputs just not going through for me?

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Unless your controller is literally busted, you just aren't good enough on that pad I guess. I and many people can QCF reliably every time on that pad. I would be interested in seeing a video lol, I refuse to believe the game is simply dropping your inputs when I can hit this 10x in a row reliably both sides, but whatever. It's an incredibly basic motion and the diagonal basically does itself on a pad as you go from down to forward.

But seriously, get a stick.

As a kid, what attracted me to fighting games were the colorful character designs and flashy martial arts fighting. As I grew older, I realized how badly I suck at them, and the time it would take to master a few, or even just one character per game. The end point of fighting games was mastery, and all other content was just superficial dressing. When I came to that conclusion, I decided that fighting games were just not for me, as there was little fun to be had in the long run by being a scrub who mostly just mashed buttons, and the alternative was dedicating endless hours to "git gud", which I did not find fun either. They were simply made not for people like me, who played games for the simple experience in itself and the occasional minor challenge, rather than seek competition, seek difficulty to overcome and reap the rewards of dedicated learning with a steep and bottomless difficulty curve.

For me, it's not so much that I've been losing interest in the games in general (as I still buy almost every FG that comes out), but fighting games really, really require some dedication and a chunk of your time. In other words, FGs just require a lot of commitment that I don't want to do right now.

I play BBCTB because I like it and I play DBFZ in large part because my IRL best friends still play it a lot (I dropped Tekken 7 because even though I like it, it would take far too much time to properly learn that game, and I dropped SFV because I just don't like the game after repeated efforts to get into it over these 3 seasons), but my time in both has considerably slipped in the past few weeks. And all this is due to is the job getting busier, and also the fact that I just want to play other games, so I don't have the time to really grind it out.

Like, I could be playing more BBCTB, but I'm playing the Yakuza series to start on Yakuza 6, and I'm having more fun and more motivation to play through these games than a fighting game ATM.

If I were back in high school or college undergrad where I had limited responsibilities and an abundance of free time, sure, I'd still be playing fighters pretty religiously to get better/git gud/pursue the answer in the heart of battle/etc.

MrCarter said:

You said fighting games and used Smash as an example? That's more of a party arena game as there are no rounds between and you use items.

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You really had to bring up the "Smash isn't really a fighting game" shit here of all places? He's talking about fighters in general, I think we get his overall point

Never been a great player of fighter games, but always loved my time with them.
Loved Tekken, SF, KoF... played a lot of different games, just never on a "professional" level...

I actually started to enjoy more the multiplayer, in particular lately with dragonball, but the fact that so often online people shut off the game when they lose it kills a bit the fun for me.... I try to get good things when i get beated, so I don't care if it count as as loss, but the fact that so many victories on my side are not counted because people just close the game... :/
So that's what mostly is killing the fun on my side... still love the SP when it's decent, and MP when I finally have many matches without problems.
Just bceause is in the first post, never liked Super Smash Bros, but I loved the similar game on DS with all the anime and Manga characters... I don't remember the name now... that was incredibly fun.

melee and fighterz is enough to keep me in



too bad marvel infinite bombed like it did. fuckin hell

Harald23 said:

DBFZ is 6-7 months old, obviously had a huge viewership at every tournament so far, again there wasn't as much competition, it's the new hot thing.

Maybe it's just me, but i was expecting a lot more from the game itself and how long it would have lasted, with the post launch support.

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Sorry, I literally have no idea what you're saying. You started this by saying that "interest" in the game is "fading." I pointed out that it's actually not fading, and the game is as popular as it has ever been and now you're saying that there's not much competition (not true), and that of course it has a huge viewership because "it's the new hot thing." How can it be "fading" and "the new hot thing" simultaneously?

Then, to make it even more confusing, you say that you were "expecting a lot more from the game itself" (fair) and "how long it would have lasted, with the post launch support." The game is insanely popular! It's not in any danger of going anywhere.

It's fine that you don't like the game (I hate playing it, too), but you seem to be conflating that with the game failing, which could not be further from the truth.

bulletyen said:

As a kid, what attracted me to fighting games were the colorful character designs and flashy martial arts fighting. As I grew older, I realized how badly I suck at them, and the time it would take to master a few, or even just one character per game. The end point of fighting games was mastery, and all other content was just superficial dressing. When I came to that conclusion, I decided that fighting games were just not for me, as there was little fun to be had in the long run by being a scrub who mostly just mashed buttons, and the alternative was dedicating endless hours to "git gud", which I did not find fun either. They were simply made not for people like me, who played games for the simple experience in itself and the occasional minor challenge, rather than seek competition, seek difficulty to overcome and reap the rewards of dedicated learning with a steep and bottomless difficulty curve.

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This is a very good post.

I fell off after SF5 came as it was a big change from my main FG SF4, but with DBFZ, Injustice 2 and SF 30th collection I feel like my old spark for fighting games has been ignited again. Maybe the current popular picks just aren't for you?

Silky said:

I can do a QCF with little hesitation on everything BUT that controller. It has input registration issues that will completely skip the df/bf inputs whenever I put it in so it'll only register as down, forward. KOF, the same issue for forward/back short hops. It just won't register sometimes despite me putting it in just as efficently as a DualShock 3. I know it's not me. The Xbone pad which has those obtrusive ridges in the design can manage to put through those same inputs with no interruptions.

Like what more do i have to do, record a video showing these same inputs just not going through for me?

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All the video would prove is that you just need to practice more with the controller, lol.

Fancolours said:

Look into Hori's Fighting Commanders. They have the best dpads in the market.

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I would if I was more interested in fighting games, unfortunately I fell out of love with them because of how controllers evolved. I do have a NeoGeo PS3 Controller that I sometimes use to play fighting games on PC, but I only use it once every blue moon.

BigJeffery said:

Sorry, I literally have no idea what you're saying. You started this by saying that "interest" in the game is "fading." I pointed out that it's actually not fading, and the game is as popular as it has ever been and now you're saying that there's not much competition (not true), and that of course it has a huge viewership because "it's the new hot thing." How can it be "fading" and "the new hot thing" simultaneously?

Then, to make it even more confusing, you say that you were "expecting a lot more from the game itself" (fair) and "how long it would have lasted, with the post launch support." The game is insanely popular! It's not in any danger of going anywhere.

It's fine that you don't like the game (I hate playing it, too), but you seem to be conflating that with the game failing, which could not be further from the truth.

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One thing when you say that the game is successful and insanely popular: how does the average playerbase compare with what Tekken 7 had during the first 5-6 months? (not its current state)

I was huge into fighters in the 90s, especially in the arcades (Mk, SF2, Tekken, VF). My first three games on PS1 were Toshinden, Tekken, and MK3.

Long story short, it's a matter of time. I'm busy now that I'm older, and have much more games to choose from rather than dedicate all the time required to a single fighter.

Harald23 said:

One thing when you say that the game is successful and insanely popular: how does the average playerbase compare with what Tekken 7 had during the first 5-6 months? (not its current state)

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I don't know, you tell me. You're the one making claims about the game dying lmao.

The only player data we have is Steam Charts, and that indicates that it had a much more explosive start but has settled into slightly worse numbers. I would speculate that this is probably testament more to how bad the console versions of Tekken 7 are than anything though.

The point is that the game is performing about as well as a fighting game can on Steam, we have no idea how its doing on consoles, and it's kicking ass in the tournament scene. There is literally no evidence to support the position that interest in it is fading. In fact, with the recent announcement of the world tour and it being the first game (I think) to ever supplant the main line SF game in numbers at EVO, I'd say that it's doing remarkably well for an anime fighter.

I still play SFV & DBFZ on a regular basis, and I regularly keep up with the CPT. Perhaps your interests are changing. It happens to the best of us, no need to worry. Just take a break from the genre & return when you feel like it.

shotopunx said:

I have. I haven't lost all interest, but haven't touched SFV in months, which is the longest I've gone not playing a fighting game since SFII days.

There's something less satisfying about the drip feeding of content and micro balance changes. I'd really prefer if they went back to big "Super" style updates instead of seasons.

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The main issue with Super versions is that they often split the player base, unless you mean releasing all 6 characters per season at once.

StallionDan said:

Well SFV and MvCI added story modes finally, but at the cost of a gimped roster size to what the previous entry launch with (SF from 25 to 16, MvC 38 Vs 30) but the rest of the SP content is garbage. This is not a good trade, there shouldn't be a trade.

These games still don't have free and easy unlockable alt costumes either (MvCI has none and SFVs basic alts cost a silly amount of FM, the premium/actually cool alts are expensive as hell with a 500% hike in price over SFIV alts). Plus in SFV case it didn't even launch with good content. No arcade mode even.

And where are the ultimate editions with all DLC? SFV re-release just added season pass content and nothing else, no costumes unlocked, no stages. MVCI probably never see one.

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Again, SFV started from scratch (as all numbered Street Fighter games do), plus SFIV had the benefit of an arcade release prior to the console launch. And we still have at least 2 more seasons left for SFV (it's gonna see support until at least the end of 2020), of course there isn't an ultimate edition.

I have, I bought Tekken 7 last year and loved it but lost interest. DBFZ was a near-purchase for me but I didn't get it after seeing the playerbase drop off hard after two weeks.

I think Smash is the only exception, I'll be playing that for a long time.

Legacy said:

I have, I bought Tekken 7 last year and loved it but lost interest. DBFZ was a near-purchase for me but I didn't get it after seeing the playerbase drop off hard after two weeks.

I think Smash is the only exception, I'll be playing that for a long time.

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It dropped to the higher-end of the usual number of players for an active fighting game (see SFV & T7), so it's not really a big issue.

The new Killer Instinct has awesome single player mode.

MrHeisenbird said:

I can be a pretty competitive gamer, so I spend hours in training modes of fighting games without even playing another person. I think I just don't want to invest in these games anymore if it means losing track of other games I have to play and look forward to. I've always been playing single player games, but lately I've been super invested and don't want to neglect them for a fighter. If ArcSys makes Persona 5 Arena, then that will be the final test to whether or not I'm going to retire from the fighting game genre.

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Unless you are going to participate in tournaments, I fail to see why you need to spend too much time in training modes causing you to lose track of other games.

When I was young, I played them with the intent of being really good (which i never did) an I was obsessed. It was that fantasy that fueled it. Now that I'm older I just log on and fight. I only do practice and training sparingly, which is cool because then I get big returns out of just learning a little bread and butter.

I've had so much personal growth directly from playing them it's little wonder that my relationship with them changed. I'm not obsessed with fighting games the way I used to be, yet I appreciate them more than ever.

Before you know the art, a punch is just a punch. A kick is just a kick.
Once you are knowing the art, a punch is more that a punch. A kick is more than a kick.
After you know the art, a punch is just a punch. A kick is just a kick.

The Almighty Tria said:

A single player mode that I can replay endlessly or changes things up greatly from the core game. It feels like its own thing versus just a slight variation on the basic gameplay, which is what most of the modes you mention are. Most of these modes do not give what people wanting meatier single player modes want. Even the Mortal Kombat story modes really aren't anything different than a basic mode you get in every fighting game, just with cutscenes woven in between each match (and they are way too short to be meaty, and too long to be replayable).

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The Story Mode of course doesn't, but there are the Challenge Towers (Multiverse in Injustice 2), which has ladders that change daily, weekly, etc. Some with slight variations evens like special attacks from the sides or modifiers like screen shaking or upside down.

Injustice 2 even has AI training were you train characters to either fight for you or send them across online modes to fight (PVP) others. Or the Guilds were you snd others earn currency by doing things. And a few other things.

There are modes that are not story related. Heck, when people say "more stuff like Netherealm" is because of the modes on top of the story mode.

Fighting games are pretty much the only games I care about (with a few exceptions though).

Been an addict in the past for Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II, Soul Calibur, Killer Instinct, Primal Rage, Tekken. I tried to get into it with KI in X1. Nothing to do, fighting game no longer have my interest. I just dont like it anymore.

I enjoyed playing against people, not online. Fighting games were my favorite genre, spent a lot of money in arcades and played with friends but that has stopped as I've gotten older.

Neoxon said:

The main issue with Super versions is that they often split the player base, unless you mean releasing all 6 characters per season at once.

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Yeah, that's what I mean. 6 characters and a major balance update once a year.

The Almighty Tria said:

A single player mode that I can replay endlessly or changes things up greatly from the core game. It feels like its own thing versus just a slight variation on the basic gameplay, which is what most of the modes you mention are. Most of these modes do not give what people wanting meatier single player modes want. Even the Mortal Kombat story modes really aren't anything different than a basic mode you get in every fighting game, just with cutscenes woven in between each match (and they are way too short to be meaty, and too long to be replayable).

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Fighting games just need modes that are an entirely different genre from fighting games.

skillzilla81 said:

Fighting games just need modes that are an entirely different genre from fighting games.

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If you want to ignore all of the games I already mentioned then sure, you can come up with this dumb argument.

shotopunx said:

Yeah, that's what I mean. 6 characters and a major balance update once a year.

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While that may be reasonable, perhaps they actually do polish the characters & finish balancing them later, hence the staggered release. That plus dropping all 6 at once doesn't leave much for the rest of the year besides stages & costumes. However, your solution has the benefit of pro players being able to get used to the new characters sooner, so there's that.

skillzilla81 said:

Fighting games just need modes that are an entirely different genre from fighting games.

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Honestly I don't know why more FG's haven't done more of this.

Tekken 3's Tekken Ball/Tekken Force modes were fantastic additions, tekken bowl is ok but not really my thing.

skillzilla81 said:

Fighting games just need modes that are an entirely different genre from fighting games.

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They should bring back beat-em-ups as the SP/Co-op component of fighting games. Tekken 3 had it right all along.

I have, Tekken 7 was my most anticipated fighting game for this gen but now it's my most disappointed game of this gen period.

Been playing fighting games for a while and I'm figuring out what I like and don't like in fighting games which narrows down which ones I actually do choose to play.

Some things I found out that I don't particularly like too much in fighting games:
- too much emphasis on high/low/left/right mixups and especially unreactable mixups
- too many directional inputs or button presses especially non-intuitive, nonsensical (hard to memorize) button sequences
- too much emphasis on "vortex" setups (rinse and repeat setups)
- too difficult controls / too strict timing like frame perfect combos/moves
- overly complicated mechanics/systems

Going off some of these dislikes, I tend to avoid anime/Marvel vs fighters, NRS fighters, and *most* 3D fighters (exception is probably Soul Calibur). I found I enjoy simpler games like Smash, old school style fighters like Street Fighter/SNK fighters.

Neoxon said:

Again, SFV started from scratch (as all numbered Street Fighter games do), plus SFIV had the benefit of an arcade release prior to the console launch. And we still have at least 2 more seasons left for SFV (it's gonna see support until at least the end of 2020), of course there isn't an ultimate edition.

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Capcom's development method shouldn't matter to the consumer. Only what they offer to buy does, and SFV offered a lot less than SFIV did when both first available to buy.

Mesoian said:

I'd be willing to say that for the grand majority of gamers out there, they've spent more on a single video game than their lifetime of playing fighters in an arcade.

Chun Li is still the most recognizable female video game character in the world, you're not going to be able to argue that Street Fighter doesn't have superior mindshare. As for Marketshare, it was ALWAYS niche, the difference was that people had the chance to be exposed by arcade cabs being in places you had to be like laundromats or restaurant lobbies.

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SFII has the supreme mindshare. Notice you cited a SFII character. The World Warrior/Super Turbo cast will be iconic for some time to come, but let's not pretend like the franchise as a whole is as popular today as it was in the mid-90s. If you showed someone SFV in passing, and Rashid and Cody were on the screen, your average millennial is not going to recognize what game is being played. They might guess SF just because, for a lot of people, it's the fighting game franchise you know and they know that they're looking at a fighting game.

And you're really downplaying how predominant Arcade Culture was in the late 70s - 90s. People's lifestyles literally centered around popular arcade machines/centers during those decades - not just children either, but a diverse demo.

Not to mention that SF2 as a series sold approximately 12 million copies as a series on SNES alone. That's approximately 70% of the installed base of the console at the time (about 17 mill units) and generated billions for Capcom up through the new millennium. SF2 was a bonafide cultural phenomenon. It was the MCU of its day, if not more popular.

So, no, it wasn't just popular. It made a dumb amount of money.

Vicious17 said:

As opposed to what? Are you claiming SF2 wasn't a niche market?

Between an actual good DBZ fighting game, SF, MK, a bunch of good, and more importantly finally accessible "anime fighters" (BlazBlue and Guilty Gear), and whatever else I'm forgetting, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the mind and marketshare of fighting games is bigger than it's ever been.

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No, it wasn't. FGs are in a good place right now, if you're a consumer, but it's all a bunch of titles fighting for scraps and it isn't sustainable. In the 90s, we got a good 10-13 years of a steady stream of fighting games due to the blue ocean SF2 created.

Nah, fighting games are basically the only multiplayer genre I care to play these days. If anything FPS is what I've completely lost interest in.

I can't say I lost interest as I still enjoy watching the majors, but I think I'm done with playing them unless SF VI looks incredible when they announce that.

StallionDan said:

Capcom's development method shouldn't matter to the consumer. Only what they offer to buy does, and SFV offered a lot less than SFIV did when both first available to buy.

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You do realize that there were also SFIV arcade cabinets in America, right? It's not like it was a Japan-only thing.

I am currently loving Tag fighters and looking forward to SC6 because I'd love to hop over into 3d.

I do get tired of how badly fighting games badly butcher DLC (BBxT charging extra for old recycled sprites with no touchup), injustice 2 (community got MK characters instead of highly requested DC characters), etc. I think even my beloved DBFZ is getting base Goku/Vegeta lol as dlc. Which is fine but they should probably be free characters. But every genre has pretty bad DLC I guess but I dont notice in the other genres because you can just buy the base game and ignore the DLC. In fighting games, you usually want DLC to be competitive (practice the matchups, normals, etc)

Hobbesian Thudercat said:

SFII has the supreme mindshare. Notice you cited a SFII character. The World Warrior/Super Turbo cast will be iconic for some time to come, but let's not pretend like the franchise as a whole is as popular today as it was in the mid-90s. If you showed someone SFV in passing, and Rashid and Cody were on the screen, your average millennial is not going to recognize what game is being played. They might guess SF just because, for a lot of people, it's the fighting game franchise you know and they know that they're looking at a fighting game.

And you're really downplaying how predominant Arcade Culture was in the late 70s - 90s. People's lifestyles literally centered around popular arcade machines/centers during those decades - not just children either, but a diverse demo.

Not to mention that SF2 as a series sold approximately 12 million copies as a series on SNES alone. That's approximately 70% of the installed base of the console at the time (about 17 mill units) and generated billions for Capcom up through the new millennium. SF2 was a bonafide cultural phenomenon. It was the MCU of its day, if not more popular.

So, no, it wasn't just popular. It made a dumb amount of money.



No, it wasn't. FGs are in a good place right now, if you're a consumer, but it's all a bunch of titles fighting for scraps and it isn't sustainable. In the 90s, we got a good 10-13 years of a steady stream of fighting games due to the blue ocean SF2 created.

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They're iconic, yes, but not all of them are popular. For example, I doubt that people would lose any sleep over E. Honda or Blanka being absent, & that's just from the Original 8. Hell, Blanka was considered by a good chunk of players as the most disappointing veteran choice of Season 3 (I was personally more indifferent than disappointed, but that's just me).

Nope, still my fave genre.

Neoxon said:

You do realize that there were also SFIV arcade cabinets in America, right? It's not like it was a Japan-only thing.

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Weren't they like $5000 and minimum order of 4?

Do I really need explain why their existence isn't a factor to my point?

StallionDan said:

Weren't they like $5000 and minimum order of 4?

Do I really need explain why their existence isn't a factor to my point?

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Obviously they weren't plentiful, but you could find at least a couple in each major city. Hell, my arcade in Katy Mills still has their vanilla cabinet.

I liked KI season 2.
The update to 3 kind of killed it for me.

Virtua Fighter 6 needs to happen before I care much about fighting games again.

Neoxon said:

Obviously they weren't plentiful, but you could find at least a couple in each major city. Hell, my arcade in Katy Mills still has their vanilla cabinet.

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So you're talking about machines in arcades.

Which has nothing to do with what gamers can buy for their consoles.

Feel like the genre's in a weird spot right now where the top tier of games popularity-wise like SFV and DBFZ aren't really that fun but maintain their popularity due to brand whereas some of the second tier stuff like BBxTag and UNIST are great fun.

Yep, since the DLC came in form of new fighters/costumes.

StallionDan said:

So you're talking about machines in arcades.

Which has nothing to do with what gamers can buy for their consoles.

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My point is that people had access to the first iteration of SFIV, which was more-or-less equal to the first iteration of SFV.

Neoxon said:

They're iconic, yes, but not all of them are popular. For example, I doubt that people would lose any sleep over E. Honda or Blanka being absent, & that's just from the Original 8. Hell, Blanka was considered by a good chunk of players as the most disappointing veteran choice of Season 3 (I was personally more indifferent than disappointed, but that's just me).

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Did you quote the wrong person or something?

Yup.

There really has to be a good singleplayer component for me, because within weeks, I'm getting stomped into the dirt consecutively by people that are just better and spend more time "in the lab."

That's not fun for me.

So I end up dropping them as soon as I beat the singleplayer.