Capcom’s major Street Fighter 5 tournament ditches PlayStation consoles for PCs

Capcom will solely use PCs to energy its upcoming Capcom Cup match, which has the world’s prime Avenue Fighter 5 gamers battling it out for a $300,000 prize pool. In a post on Twitter, Capcom Fighters says all matches shall be performed on PCs with the shows set to 144Hz.

The corporate doesn’t present any data on the {hardware} going into these PCs (or in the event that they’ll simply use gaming laptops), however the transfer’s anticipated to scale back enter lag — the time it takes for a system to translate your button press on a keyboard or controller to an motion displayed on the display. Low enter lag is a necessity for execs within the preventing sport scene, the place a delayed punch or kick can drastically have an effect on the result of a match.

Enter lag on the PlayStation 4 has lengthy been an issue for Avenue Fighter 5 gamers, and even the PlayStation 5 doesn’t appear to enhance on all of it that a lot. Whereas the PlayStation 4 was the console of alternative for Avenue Fighter 5 tournaments earlier than the covid pandemic hit, Arman Hanjani, a Avenue Fighter professional who goes by the title Phenom in tournaments, tells The Verge that many gamers made the change to PC as in-person occasions had been canceled and extra tournaments passed off on-line.

“Now we have all been taking part in on PC principally for the previous few years,” Hanjani says. “It’s the place the sport is most responsive.” That, coupled with the truth that the sport performs higher on PC is probably going the catalyst behind Capcom’s choice. Different Avenue Fighter execs, including Arturo Sanchez, often known as Sabin, have lengthy pushed for Avenue Fighter 5 tournaments to happen on PC.

We received a style of what an all-PC Avenue Fighter 5 match might seem like with final yr’s MSI-sponsored Defend the North competitors, however we doubtless can’t anticipate smaller tournaments to take its lead. As Supercombo.gg co-founder Kevin Higgins factors out, buying and sustaining gaming PCs for lots of (and even 1000’s) of gamers isn’t sensible for some occasion organizers.

Plus, as Higgins notes, enter latency isn’t all the time constant throughout all gadgets, whether or not it’s as a result of one configuration is barely completely different from one other, or the occasion organizer failed to put in a driver replace on one of many machines. It’s simpler (and cheaper) to realize a stage taking part in area with consoles which have extra predictable ranges of efficiency.

It’s a disgrace that it took seven years after the discharge of Avenue Fighter 5 for one of many greatest tournaments to permit gameplay on PC, however it’s higher late than by no means. We’ll should see if different main preventing sport tournaments make the transition to PC (though it won’t occur at Evo, since Sony partially owns it).

“That is doubtless the final Capcom Cup for Avenue Fighter 5, and it’s ending in the easiest way doable,” Hanjani says. “We’ll all have the ability to play at our fullest.” The Capcom Cup begins on February twelfth.