I don’t think there can be any argument against mid-budget japanese games having “come back” in light of tekken – which has been consistently, blithely worse than soul calibur or virtua fighter since 1999 – topping charts for the first time in 20 years
isn’t tekken the best-selling fighting game series of all time
it might not be so popular in english-speaking countries, but it’s very much a cult series in mainland europe (mostly thanks to tekken 3’s legacy)
more interesting that 60% of that chart is from 2016 or earlier
why are you pretending to have fighting game opinions 
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bc I’m fascinated when a company can resell an old property semi-successfully without having made many changes to it & my experience is that the genre 100% peaked on the dreamcast so I’m always kind of puzzled by recent successes
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I dunno about the specific peak of the genre that you’re talking about, but yeah, fighting games have definitely peaked. I think the biggest problem is arcade heritage, tbh. The digital input makes the skillpush either complex motions, complex combo systems, or precise timing - all of which make the bar for new players incredibly high. And while home versions have definitely made quarter munching an antiquated game design element, FGs still cling to the 5 minute 2 person structure. Compare this to a MOBA where you have 10 players having fun for 30 minutes…
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there’s also a good chance I’m being a philistine or just a regular ol’ killjoy about this given that, y’know, evo continues to be a fun thing for thousands of people, and it’s a weird contrast from me pointing out how many PS4-era games are genuinely better than anything that’s come before in their respective genres, but I gotta admit I don’t feel like fightmans or shmups have really done much since the late 90s / early 00’s other than keep churning out increasingly niche releases
just ship a CPS3 emulator and be done with it
Please cite a single instance of all 10 players having fun for 30 minutes in the entire history of MOBAs.
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You know those kids at the arcade that would press buttons without putting quarters in but still have fun? That’s my bar. Except in MOBAs they’re monetized as organic Mook AI.
Maybe I should’ve said “engaged”
The biggest advantage of team-based multiplayer games designed for online play is that you can play with your friends and/or blame random strangers for your failures.
Fighting games are inaccessible and insular but no more so than any other established genre. Learning how to play an FPS at a competitive level is pretty rough if you haven’t ever played an FPS before (this does happen), and if you aren’t able to lean on a group to teach you and/or carry you.
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yeah i have played competitive FPSes before and like, i can’t get proper into say Overwatch
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Overwatch sucks though
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fair point
you aren’t wrong but there’s a little more to it and i’m really bad at posting so bear with me
these games are bigger than individual releases to a lot of people - they’re an organic offline scene, a new fightman is something new to play with your pals and even the bad ones can be mechanically interesting or fucked up in hilarious ways
i’ve been totally unenthused re: the last few years worth of fg releases but i often get all nostalgic about travelling around to play super turbo or the massive influx of new people (including some who are now close friends) back when vanilla sf4 released on console
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There has to be an Evo watching party or two I can crash in Toks.
IIRC the big one was at esports Square in Akihabara, but now that they host the Japanese League of Legends league that may have changed.
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as a fighting game player i am side-eyeing the conversation here but not really wanting to have this argument again
but also: tekken is huge and anyone who says otherwise isn’t paying attention
the reason it took two years for it to come out on consoles is that it completely dominated the arcades and was continuing to make a considerable profit well after other fgs had dropped off
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xd
genre I am not and have never been particularly invested in just ain’t what it used to be
racing games peaked with auto modellista’s cel shading and I don’t get why they’re still making games where you just like drive cars or whatever
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