In March 2014, Capcom partnered with livestreaming video platform Twitch to create a year-long fighting game league, titled the Capcom Pro Tour. The Tour featured a large number of tournaments, among which ten "Premier Events". Winners of the Premier Events would automatically qualify for the Capcom Cup in December, and six more players were selected based on their ranking in Capcom-sponsored tournaments. During early tournaments in the Capcom pro Tour, the 2012 version of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition was played. Tournaments transitioned into Ultra Street Fighter 4 as it became available in June. The Street Fighter tournament held at the Pro Tour Premier Events were all streamed through the "Capcom Fighters" Twitch channel. Capcom also brought smaller tournaments to well-known video game conventions such as E3 and PAX East. In April, online gaming platform Virgin Gaming partnered with Capcom and Twitch in order to hold regional online tournaments. In total, 716 players scored points in the ranking.
Tournament background
The Capcom Cup was held on December 13, 2014 in The Warfield in San Francisco, a music venue usually reserved for major musical acts. Heidi Kemps of Red Bull described the venue as "close-knit and communal", though noted that The Warfield didn't afford much space for crowd control. The Capcom Cup offered live commentary not only through its online livestreams, as the commentary of James Chen and David "UltraDavid" Graham was also broadcast among the crowd. The tournament had a prize pool of over $36,000 USD, $30,000 of which went to the winner.
Tournament summary
The Capcom Cup featured a double-elimination format and featured a roster of various high-level players. Justin Wong and Snake Eyez, among others, suffered two losses in a row at the start of the tournament, causing them to drop out early in the brackets. Due to Ultra Street Fighter IVs large character roster featuring 44 options, character choice became an important metagame at the tournament. Competitors were allowed to mutually blind-pick characters in order to avoid counter-picks. When a player loses, they are allowed to change their character, while the winner has to stick with theirs. Quickly, players started to bring out unexpected characters in order to surprise their opponents. The Capcom Cup was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating Kun Xian Ho in the finale. After winning a very close rematch against Ryan Hart in the loser's brackets of the tournament and defeating Luffy in the loser's bracket finals, Momochi was faced with Xian's Poison in the Grand Finals. Momochi caused Xian to change his character to Gen after winning the first set 2-1. Momochi then managed to force a bracket-reset and eventually won the final set 3-1.
