Ready? Fight! How fighting game tournaments draw thousands of fans, and hungry players
Fighting game events like Frosty Faustings in the US boast huge audiences for even older fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Two competitors were positioned side by side, hands jittering as they waited to prove that they were the best fighters. A live audience, cheering and heckling, watched on a giant projected screen above. Tucked in the corner, two broadcasters provided colourful commentary for an online audience of over a thousand watching from home.
The competition was not boxing, but a fighting video game – Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes – with the tournament taking place over a recent weekend in the Junior Ballroom at the Westin Chicago Lombard hotel, in the US state of Illinois.
Almost 4,000 competitive gamers and superfans from all over the United States had gathered, with attendees paying US$100 or more just to compete in a single tournament.
The event, titled “Frosty Faustings XVII”, was part of the world of competitive video gaming and this year hosted some 25 game tournaments over three days.
Among those games, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 holds a special place. First released in 2000, the niche but popular game – one that is blazingly fast and complex – was re-released in autumn 2024.
Head-to-head fighting games were born in the heyday of arcade culture in the 1990s and there were competitions even then – usually meetups at the local arcade, bowling alley or basement. Now they can fill conference centres.