>_> after reading this I feel a little less inclined to be a part of this community. Why say that your are not apart the FGC and are willing to complete disregard it for Esports? Capcom games have lead the American FGC for a very long time and what's happening now is not any different from back in the day but its just on a grander scale. It crazy to see this community's leaders say something like this when interest in SCV is pretty high even among 2D players and it is probably a Shoe-in for EVO. If SCV turns out to be a really good game like say MK (because regardless of what many think about it, it was a general success and still pulls the #'s), people will give it a look regardless of Stream Monsters and Online only members of SRK say.
But honestly looking back at Soul Calibur's competitive track record, its been inconsistent, unbalanced, and stuck in Tekken's shadow. You can see why it has not gained to same kind of notoriety and respect that Tekken has held for a while (Hell its been at EVO since 2K3 so you can't say its all Capcoms fault). SC1 from what I can tell wasn't played as competitively as TTT1 was. As soakrates said SC2 @ EVO 2K4 it wasn't the most popular game but hey it made EVO. SC3 was barely played competitively due to terrible glitches. SC4 made EVO but community problems, Hilde, and general poor reception of the game made it die out somewhat. Its not hard to see why it hasn't been part of the best and brightest of the FGC but things can change.
SCV may be Soul Calibur's SF4. Not literally but this game can turn out really good. Many so far have sung nothing praises about this game regardless of some choice mechanics. Time can only tell how this game is received but if it has that MK9/SF4 bang, you can bet your ass people will be all over it. People from every fighting game will at least try it out but that's all you really need in the first place but if you want to distance yourself from the greater FGC, I believe there is gonna be a hard time gathering #'s for those MLG-esque tournaments. Reason why Tekken 6 failed at MLG was because of the fact that it did not have the numbers.
In addition, Tekken 6 at MLG was not success. Sure they played payers more cash, sure it gave Filthie Rich a spot as community manager @ Namco but it did not receive the numbers to have a second season. If it was a success, we'd see more community run Tekken 6 tournaments with e-sports backing and sponsored players (think bar fights), Tekken 6 pulling better numbers at tournaments, and of course a second season and maybe even more seasons until TTT2. Instead, Tekken lost more than it received. Even lower turnouts at tournaments, a few top players dropping the game (Fab comes to mind), large community run tournaments like strong style are gone. It crashed harder than it would have.
This is what the FGC is afraid of and its a good reason. It accelerated the death of a good competitive game by making the bad choice of picking it up. Not something to bat you eye at at all. I see nothing wrong with E-sports and the FGC coming together but at the moment they don't understand us and we don't understand them. We want to stay us and make more money, they want us to make more money too...and in turn make them money but by doing that they may have to take away certain things that makes the FGC the FGC. There is a lot of other fluff but that's what I feel the main problem is. Adding the fact that the FGC has been sustaining itself pretty well these last few years, we don't necessarily have to be with e-sports right now.
that's my $.02...
