The fighting game community stands out as one of the only mainstream competitive scenes that has always been grassroots. This stems from the early days of competition when the only barrier to entry was a ride to the arcade and a few quarters. Those gathering spots are where the “open bracket” tournament began.
What is an open bracket tournament?
An open bracket tournament is a common FGC event that anyone can enter. Almost every tournament in the scene, including majors, features hundreds of open spots for players of all skills. Even beginners can take first place.
Recently CEO, the major fighting game tournament, quickly sold out because of the hunger for in-person competition post-quarantine. Many top tournament players missed out on registration. A tweet from Smash Bros Ultimate player Marss created controversy around the question, “Should top players get early registration for major tournaments?”
Hope they just start letting top players do early early reg. I know its top player privlege or whatever but I'd rather see mkleo and light go to CEO for example, rather than 2 dudes who are gonna go 0-2 and ask top players for pictures only after they lose
— ⚡ Marss ⚡ (@Marss_NE) June 27, 2021
Why is open bracket so important?
Fighting games are always touted as the genre that absolutely anyone can join thanks to open brackets. The main draw is that literally anyone can work hard and land in grand finals against one of the strongest players in the world. This inclusive format also helped the scene grow into the diverse melting pot of different race, gender, and ethnicity that we continue to celebrate today. Without a true open bracket, every event becomes less accessible. In other words, diversity is basically replaced with invitationals, or invite-only tournaments for top players. Top players shouldn’t receive special treatment for standard competitions.
The curious case of FGC viewership
Invitationals are the main focus of the open bracket counterargument. Many think events featuring the best players in the world are more profitable than standard tournaments in terms of viewership. They also believe invitationals are the key to community growth. This might be the case for most esports, however, Esports Charts data shows the fighting game community is unique.
This chart displays hours watched versus air time for the top 5 fighting game esports in 2020. Immediately you’ll notice the bigger traditional fighting games aren’t even the most-watched titles, let alone esports. Combo Breaker Event Director and Twitch FGC head, Rick “The Hadou” said in a tweet, “I think an integral, but missing part of this convo is that fame, sponsor, and spectator prioritizing fighting game events often do not produce significantly more viewership than large grassroots events. As such, the ecosystem prioritizing conventions feels natural.”
With almost every event featuring different producers and circumstances, it’s hard to go by a single case, even after looking at various statistics. For example, it’s difficult to even call tournaments like the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Finals and Capcom Cup “invitationals” when they are the “top 8” of world-spanning open bracket tournaments. The key to their viewership isn’t top player presence, but the hype throughout the circuit that climaxes in far greater viewership than normal.
These charts prove viewership hardly ever jumps to new bounds despite competitive event variations. Factors like the event’s production team, name, legacy, stream numbers, and promotion usually influence how many people tune in beyond the standard number of FGC viewers. For instance, Street Fighter V’s Eleague invitational hit a peak of 335k viewers thanks to multiple streams on Twitch and TV, making it a special and incomparable case to just about any other FGC event ever. This same case is mirrored by the near 5 million viewer peak of Street Fighter V’s 2017 Evo top 8, which was streamed on Twitch and aired on television via ESPN and Disney XD.
Community focus results in true growth
Let’s say that invitationals unquestionably did take fighting game viewership to the next level. That still wouldn’t justify the privilege of making every event more accessible to top players over everyone else, especially since those same pros were no name players too once. The fighting game community is in a special spot where the main focus is the “Community.” Without the camaraderie brought to the forefront from these convention-like tournaments, the entire group would lose a lot of steam. As said earlier, the FGC is built upon the dream of lower-level players striving to become the best. Without them constantly signing up and paying to compete, the community would stagnate and ultimately fail to grow.
The open bracket component of the community is not only the reason it still exists but also the reason it’s as big as it is today. Rick “The Hadou” once said, “Since 09 we grew annually near exclusively thanks to open events. The future (of the community) requires open bracket, community-level activation, and invitationals.”