DAYTONA, Florida -- The familiar sounds of Street Fighter echoed through the lobby into the arena at the Ocean Center on the final day of the CEO Fighting Championships, but one look at the crowd ended all familiarity.
Once the headliner of CEO and a majority of the top multi-title fighting game tournaments around the world, the attendance for this year's Street Fighter V top-eight was sparse at best, with fans rotating in and out to see what else was going on inside the venue.
Last year, as it has been so often in the past at large events, Street Fighter was the main event, as Atsushi "Fujimura" Fujimura of Japan took home the championship belt. Since then, while new games have been released and older titles have found new surges in popularity, Street Fighter V, the polarizing successor of the franchise, has waned from its previous perch as the kingpin of the fighting game community.
At Evolution Championship Series in 2018, the biggest fighting game tournament in the world held each year in Las Vegas, although Street Fighter was in its usual end of the event spot, it failed to peak as the most-watched competition of the event. That honor went to the debuting Dragon Ball FighterZ.
What could have been waved off as an event issue more so than Street Fighter's current state was quickly erased when Mortal Kombat 11 took the stage following Street Fighter at CEO.
The stands and energy picked up right as the gore-centric fighting game kicked off its top eight. Fans chanted and jumped out of their seats to watch the victor of that Dragon Ball FighterZ tournament from EVO last year, Dominique "Sonic Fox" McLean, make a run through the losers bracket to defeat Ryan "Dragon" Walker in the final and be crowned CEO champion.
THE KING REMAINS KING @SonicFox5000 battles through the loser's bracket at @CEOGaming to win the Mortal Kombat championship
— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) June 30, 2019
Somewhere, @RickFox is smiling #CEO2019 pic.twitter.com/U4wL0CKv1p
Even with delays and long intermissions, the crowd for this year's main event, Smash Bros. Ultimate, was what we've seen in the past from Street Fighter headliners. While the result was never in doubt -- the No. 1 player in the world, Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez, only dropped two games en route to another tournament victory -- the energy in the arena only rose as the time got closer to midnight, with some fans having been in the building since the early hours of the morning for the quarterfinals of Tekken 7 and other games.
That's not to say Street Fighter wasn't devoid of excitement. When the lone American in the quarterfinals, Kevin "Dual Kevin" Barrios, made a Cinderella run before being ultimately stopped by Keita "Fuudo" Ai, the crowd was on their feet, one fan running down the aisle pumping his fists into the air as the crowd promptly chanted "U-S-A!" to spur him forward. The grand final itself, a match between 2018's winner Fujimura and Masato "Bonchan" Takahashi, was the game at its best, with the bracket being reset and Bonchan needing to kick into an extra gear to get the victory.
The quality of the games wasn't a problem. But the interest, outside of Dual Kevin's run, was lacking.
It begs the question on what's next heading into the rest of the summer with the granddaddy of them all, EVO, a little more than a month away. The four Sunday games to be played inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center have already been announced, with SFV joining Smash Ultimate, Tekken 7 and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. While it can be safely assumed that Cross Tag Battle will be the day's opener -- the fast-paced anime-styled fighter is a perfect way to give an early jolt to the Vegas crowd -- no longer is it a foregone conclusion that king of fighting games will keep its main event slot on Aug. 5.
oh my God
— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) July 1, 2019
the crowd at CEO is going insane pic.twitter.com/XcZuoZ4mY4
Smash Ultimate was given the nod at CEO, a decision backed by tournament founder Alex Jebailey, and the gamble paid off. Jebailey has been a champion for the Smash Bros. games in the past when they've been overlooked by other organizers, and with the introduction of Ultimate, the opportunity presented itself to give it a chance to close out the show.
Ultimate is already the best-selling fighting game of all-time, with nearly 14 million units sold from its Dec. 7 release to March 31, according to a report from developer Nintendo.
The dark horse in all of this is Tekken 7, which released all the way back in 2015 and yet has only gained steam year to year. The often overlooked brother to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in the longrunning fighting game franchise family, the newest edition of Tekken, unlike Street Fighter, has brought interest back into the series, as the title has become the game of choice in countries like South Korea and Pakistan.
At CEO, although not one of the featured titles, Tekken was still one of the fan favorites on the convention floor, with even casual passersby from other games at the event stopping to appreciate the excitement.
Currently, Street Fighter lags behind both Ultimate and Tekken 7 in signups for EVO, which takes place Aug. 2-5.
Evo 2019 Registration Scoreboard July Edition!
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) July 1, 2019
1st - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2nd - Tekken 7
3rd - Street Fighter V
4th - Samurai Shodown
5th - Mortal Kombat 11
6th - Under Night In Birth
7th - Dragonball FighterZ
8th - Soul Calibur 6
9th - Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle#Evo2019
The game has lagged behind on streaming platforms, too: When it comes to average viewership on Twitch, SFV is lapped by Smash Ultimate, which is one of the top-20 games on the streaming site in the last year. Street Fighter is closer to No. 50.
Despite all of that, Street Fighter isn't going away. In terms of legacy, there is no fighting game series, old or new, that can touch it. The most famous fighting game clip of all time is from Street Fighter, when Daigo Umehara parried his way to myth-like status against Justin Wong. When the lights dim at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday this year and the live speakers announce it's time for the grand finale, Street Fighter V might still take center stage.
But, for the first time since the franchise returned to prominence in 2008 with the release of Street Fighter IV, it might no longer be the biggest name in the fighting game business.
This year, EVO's main event might belong to another, and surprisingly bigger, game.