Capcom will exclusively use PCs to power its upcoming Capcom Cup tournament, which has the world’s top Street Fighter 5 players compete for a $300,000 prize pool. In a message on TwitterCapcom Fighters says all matches will be played on PCs with the displays set to 144Hz.
The company isn’t disclosing what hardware will go into these PCs (or if they’ll be just gaming laptops), but it’s expected that the move will reduce input lag — the time it takes for a system to respond to your press of a button. translateable keyboard or controller to an action displayed on the screen. Low input lag is a necessity for professionals in the fighting game scene, where a delayed punch or kick can greatly affect the outcome of a match.
Input lag on the PlayStation 4 has been a problem for a long time Street Fighter 5 players, and even the PlayStation 5 doesn’t seem to improve this much. While the PlayStation 4 was the console of choice Street Fighter 5 tournaments before the covid pandemic hit, Arman Hanjani, a street fighter pro who goes by the name Phenom in tournaments The edge that many players made the switch to PC as in-person events were canceled and more tournaments took place online.
“We’ve all been playing mostly on PC for the last few years,” says Hanjani. “It’s where the game is most responsive.” That, coupled with the game performing better on PC, is likely the catalyst behind Capcom’s decision. Other street fighter pros, including Arturo Sanchezalso known as Sabin, have long insisted Street Fighter 5 tournaments taking place on PC.
We got a taste of what a full PC is Street Fighter 5 tournament could look like last year MSI sponsored Defend the North competition, but we probably can’t expect smaller tournaments to take the lead. If Supercombo.gg co-founder Kevin Higgins points out that buying and maintaining gaming PCs for hundreds (or even thousands) of players is not realistic for some event organizers.
Additionally, as Higgins points out, input latency isn’t always consistent across devices, whether it’s because one configuration is slightly different from another, or because the event organizer couldn’t install a driver update on one of the machines. It’s easier (and cheaper) to level the playing field with consoles with more predictable levels of performance.
It’s a pity it took seven years after the release of Street Fighter 5 for one of the biggest tournaments to enable gameplay on PC, but it’s better late than never. We’ll have to see if other major fighting game tournaments make the move to PC (although it may not happen with Evo, as Sony partially owns it).
“This is probably the last Capcom Cup for Street Fighter 5, and it ends in the best possible way,” says Hanjani. “We will all be able to play to the fullest.” The Capcom Cup kicks off on February 12.
