Street Fighter's Capcom Pro Tour esports series returns in 2019 with $600,000 up for grabs
Capcom has confirmed their 2019 plans for their 'Capcom Pro Tour' Street Fighter tournament series, and this time around there's $600,000 up for grabs.
Fighting games remain a growing area in the esports landscape, and Capcom has revealed they remain committed to the cause, rebooting the Capcom Pro Tour tournament series with an adjusted format and a new $600,000 US Dollar prize pool - even as fans debate what the future holds for Street Fighter 5 in general.
As always, the Capcom Pro Tour will run across the year in order to determine the 32 best Street Fighter players in the world. At the end of the year, that top 32 will compete in a larger-scale grand finals event organized by Capcom, where a world champion will be crowned.
For several years PlayStation acted as the main sponsor of the Pro Tour, with grand finals hosted at their PSX events. Last year, Capcom struck out alone and held grand finals solo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Capcom Pro Tour makes smart use of the existing 'grass roots' fighting game community and tournament scene by assigning qualification and ranking points to placed finishes at each event. This year events are split three ways, between ranking events, premier events and super premier events - the latter providing enough points for what is essentially an instant qualification for grand finals.
EGX 2019 in London returns as a premier event alongside a range of events around the world, spanning countries including Ireland, Singapore, France, the US and China. Two of the three super premier events take place in the US, while one will take place in Japan.
The confirmation of a continuing commitment to the Capcom Pro Tour comes as fans are left with doubts about Street Fighter 5. The game added new character Kage at the end of 2018, but Capcom went on to confirm there would not be a season pass for 2019 - breaking a three-year tradition and causing speculation that SF5 could be set to wind down this year. Indeed, the comments of the Pro Tour announcement trailer embedded above are (perhaps predictably) awash with calls for character announcements and confirmation of what's going on.
Whatever is happening with the game proper, the Capcom Pro Tour continues - and notably hangs on to its series-agnostic name, which hopefully is an indication that Capcom still has designs on eventually adding other fighting games to the pro tour's roster. How about a better Marvel vs Capcom reboot, guys? Or even a Street Fighter 6...? Or, well - why not both...?