All year, players have been competing in various fighting game esports events to try and work their way to the Capcom Cup. The end of year final, always a highlight for esports but especially now the Cup carries such a prize pool. It’s definitely increased competition and attention on the Capcom Cup 12 stream. But we’re going to see a severely limited audience this year. It’s been announced that the Capcom Cup 12 stream will be going pay per view.
The Capcom Cup is one of quite a few circuit finales for fighting games. Most of the major titles have one. However, the Capcom Cup is the one which has pushed the roof higher. Since the launch of Street Fighter 6, the prize pool has increased to the millions. Raising the stakes exponentially! It’s led to a huge increase in viewing figures too. But that’s likely going to change on the Capcom Cup 12 stream.
This change will mean quite a lot less people can actually follow along. While the qualifying events have been free to watch, it’ll only be those paying for a direct stream who can join in this time. What’s more, it’ll severely limit content creators and likely the ability to watch back the Capcom Cup 12 stream afterwards. If you’re trying to follow along with your favorite player’s journey, you can see them qualify in events like EVO France, but might have to weigh your options when it comes time for the Capcom Cup 12 stream.
What’s going to change with this and how will it affect the Cup?
Capcom Cup 12 is Going Pay Per View
In an announcement, Capcom has given out details of the Capcom Cup 12 stream! It’s taking place next March, once all the best Street Fighter players have locked their slots in for this final at the end of the year. However, watching along is going to be more difficult.
The stream is going to be pay per view. Players will have to purchase access to it. Pay per view is pretty typical in most sports in one way or another. From actual pay per view to paid channels buying exclusive rights to a broadcast. However, for fighting game esports it’s a bit rarer. Lately, free accessible streams have kind of been the norm. There’s even fewer esports tournaments getting tied up with exclusive streaming rights now. But the Capcom Cup 12 is breaking that trend.
It’ll make it a bit trickier to actually watch the Capcom Cup 12 stream, especially if you don’t want to pay.
The free replay won’t be available until a week after it happens. Meaning it’ll be kind of older news by the time you can even watch the games back. It’ll also mean no restreams or content like that. Likely lower analysis of the matches until a week after when the footage is free to view too. It’ll limit everything around the finals.
The reaction hasn’t been very positive. Fans are obviously put out at having to pay to watch the Capcom Cup 12 stream. Even if it’s likely that an under the table restream option takes off once the event is underway, pushing viewers out of legitimate streams is never a good thing. However, even among those willing to pay to watch, the tickets themselves are excessive.
It’s cheaper to physically attend than to buy the Pay Per View bundle. Obviously, that’s for lesser seats compared to the best views, but the pay per view for the full event with the Street Fighter League too is quite expensive. It’s likely going to mean a significantly lower viewer count for the tournament.
Pay Per View Could Halt Games Growth
Since the Capcom Cup moved to Street Fighter 6 with the new game’s release, its seen elevated interest. The Capcom Cup 11 reached a peak viewership of 354,039 and a total of over 5.5 million hours watched. The Capcom Cup X had a peak of 311,610, and 3.9 million hours viewed.
Going further back, the Capcom Cup IX only hit 105,289 peak viewers and 1.5 million hours. It’s been a clear trend upward for quite a while now. Moving the Capcom Cup 12 stream to pay per view will likely significantly damper this. It’s possible the tournaments peak viewership will even fall below 100,000 again.
Since the esports tournament has had such an increased prize pool lately, it’s possible the pay per view is to try and recoup more of that. It’ll likely mean their tournament with the highest fighting game esports prize pool just becomes less relevant to anyone who isn’t a huge fan of the game.
