Interviews with Seth Killian & Tom Cannon about tourneys

Is Capcom involved with fostering competition on a day-to-day level?

Capcom runs tournaments at larger events such as E3 or Comic-Con, and I attend dozens of tournaments personally, but the primary focus of our support is on providing early builds and resources to make sure the core fans get a chance to go hands-on with the games at events. They tell us what's working and what's not, and are basically a great way to help steer the development process.

Capcom also runs "Fight Club" events that have proven insanely popular. While they aren't tournaments per se, the intent is to try and recapture some of that same exciting arcade atmosphere and the "I got next" competitiveness that spawned the worldwide tournament scene.

How does sponsorship work for tournaments and players? Where does the money come from for the SF side?

The sponsor pool isn't as big for fighting-game players, but that is changing with Street Fighter IV's popularity boom. Our 2010 stream was watched by over 2.4 million unique viewers. G4 did a piece on Evo 2010 that featured several top players decked out in their sponsor's shirt. Exposure is exposure. Fighting-game players don't need PCs and components to play their game, but these guys are being watched by an awful lot of gamers who do buy those products. That's why you're starting to see traditionally PC teams like Evil Geniuses pick up top fighting-game players.