Capcom Cup 2016

The year 2016 featured the fourth annual Capcom Cup and the third presence of the Capcom Pro Tour. The 2015 Pro Tour featured Ultra Street Fighter IV as the played game, though Capcom released Street Fighter V shortly before the 2016 season. In an interview with Engadget, game designer Yoshinori Ono stated that the company "want[ed] to reset the entire game so that we can reset the playing field and let lots of new people jump in and start competing."[1] Street Fighter V gained some negative attention among the fighting game community due to a poor launch and an inherent input delay discovered during the 2016 season.[2] Xian, whose main character Gen was not yet included in the game, stated in an interview with International Business Times that he had to "relearn everything again" and that "in Street Fighter V, I am worried I can't live up to the expectations."[3]

The return of the Capcom Pro Tour in 2016 was highly expected after Matt Dahlgren, Capcom's director of Brand Marketing and eSports, repeatedly mentioned the importance of esports to the success of (the then upcoming) Street Fighter V. The Tour features a "baseline" prize pool of $500,000 USD, to be spread out over its events. The first major tournament of the Tour, Final Round 19, took place approximately one month after the release of Street Fighter V.[4] In total, 523 players scored points in the ranking.[5]

The Capcom Pro Tour is a series of worldwide qualifying events where players can accumulate official Regional and Global Points in order to qualify for later Capcom-sponsored events, including the Capcom Cup. If a hypothetical player earns 20 points in the North American region and 10 points in the Latin American region, that player will have 20 points on the North American leaderboard, 10 points on the Latin American leaderboard, and a total of 30 points on the Global leaderboard. Each region has a series of ranking events where players can earn points in this manner.[6]

The 2016 Capcom Pro Tour consists of 72 separate events across four different regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Among these 72 events are eleven Global Premier Events, as well as the 2016 Evolution Championship Series (Evo 2016), each of which grand an automatic qualification for the Capcom Cup to the winner. The 2016 Global Premier Events, including Evo 2016, are:[6][7]

• Final Round 19: Atlanta, Georgia – March 18–20
• NorCal Regionals 2016: Sacramento, California – March 25–27
• Stunfest 2016: France – May 20–22
• Dreamhack Summer: Sweden – June 18–21
• Community Effort Orlando: Orlando, Florida – June 24–26
• G-League: China – July 9
• Evo 2016: Las Vegas, Nevada – July 15–17
• Tokyo Game Show Japan Cup: Tokyo, Japan – September 15
• EGX Rezzed: London, England – September 22–25
• South East Asia Major 2016: Singapore – October 7–9
• SoCal Regionals 2016: Los Angeles, California – October 14–16
• Canada Cup 2016: Toronto, Ontario, Canada – October 28–30

Furthermore, each region would have a closed Regional Finals event. The four champions of these events would similarly automatically qualify for the Capcom Cup. The 16 remaining slots would be filled through the Global Points Leaderboards (eight slots) and the four Regional Point Leaderboards (four times two slots). If a competitor wins more than one Global Premier Event, an additional Capcom Slot opens up on the Global Points Leaderboards. Those that come in second or lower in a Global Premier Event do not automatically qualify for the Capcom Cup as happened last year. Competitors for the Regional Final Events are determined by 12 Ranking Events and two Online Events.[6][7]

Infiltration won three Premier Events during the 2016 Capcom Pro Tour, including Evolution.

Infiltration was the first player to qualify for the 2016 Capcom Cup after winning Final Round 19 in February, despite running into issues with his arcade controller during the competition.[8] Infiltration went on to win NorCal Regionals 2016 and Evo 2016 as well.[9][10] Stunfest 2016 was won by Capcom Cup 2014 and Evo 2015 champion Yusuke Momochi, despite his struggling with Street Fighter V at the first major tournaments of the season.[11]

The Swedish festival DreamHack Summer saw a large number of Japanese players competing, including Daigo Umehara, Fuudo, and Tokido. However, the event was won by Norwegian player Arman "Phenom" Hanjani, playing as Necalli and M. Bison.[2] CEO 2016 was won by Japanese fighting game god Tokido in an upset against Infiltration.[12] Meanwhile, Chinese player Zeng "XiaoHai" Zhuojun qualified for the Capcom Cup after taking gold at G-League in Shanghai, beating Singapore player Kun Xian Ho in the finale.[13] Japan Cup 2016, held at the Tokyo Game Show, was won by GamerBee.[14] Canada Cup 2016 was won by NuckleDu who became the first American player to win a Pro Tour Premier Event in two years.[15]

During the second half of the Capcom Pro Tour, each region features two online events. Players that win in one of the 256-person tournaments qualify to compete at their regional finals event, from where they could qualify for the Capcom Cup proper.[6][16] The first online qualifier was held on July 31 in North America, where Californian Ryu player Miky "XsK Samurai" Chea secured a spot in the North American Regional Ranking Finals in Seattle, Washington. In an interview with Yahoo Esports, XsK Samurai stated he wasn't even aware of what he was competing for, believing he had only won 10-12 points. "My main goal is to improve. To do so well in an online tournament was a surprise. I just wanted to play," XsK Samurai stated.[17][18]

Seven more online qualifying events are held in August, September, and October. Some of the dates of the online events overlap with official Pro Tour tournaments, forcing some competitors to choose which to attend. Players from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are only able to enter the October 22 event, while the rest of Asia (excluding mainland China) can compete in the August 27 event as well.[19]

Daigo Umehara became the victor of Europe's Regional Finals having beaten Phenom 3-1 as well as securing a spot for Capcom Cup,[20] Europe's Regional Finals took place at Milan Games Week.[21] The Latin American Regional Finals was won by Dominican player Ray "DR Ray" Rosario using Vega who notably double eliminated Evil Geniuses' resident Cammy player Kenneth "K-Brad" Bradley in Winner's Finals (3-1) and Grand Finals (3-0) in order to take the qualifying spot.[22]