Great news for Street Fighter fans, Capcom has eased many of the restrictions it put into place for smaller, community-focused Street Fighter 5 tournaments. These restrictions were initially designed to draw a clear line between smaller events and those which required a commercial licence. The rules were seen as too restrictive and have since been amended to allow community event organisers some more freedom.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Capcom posted an update recently addressing the rule changes. The company states that "Honouring the grassroots tradition of the Street Fighter community is incredibly important to us." The full list of changes is as follows:
- Increased prize pool limit from $2,000 to $10,000 per event
- Removed the yearly $10,000 prize pool limit
- Increased sponsorship limit from $5,000 to $6,000 per event
- Increased sponsorship limit from $20,000 to $30,000 per year
- Changed spectator fee restrictions
- Changed venue restrictions for bars
- Removed License Grant-back for video/photo content captured at events
These changes should make it much easier for organisers to set up small-scale tournaments - an important part of the fighting game scene that will allow more grassroots talent to be nurtured.
Bigger prize pools mean more people will wish to take part. There is also now no limit on the yearly prize pool, meaning organisers can host as many contests as they want. Organisers can now also charge a spectator fee as long as those fees are only used to offset event costs - meaning they can't be used for profit.
Street Fighter 5 tournaments can now also be held in venues with bars, as long as the event organisers don't own the bar and the bar isn't sponsoring the tournament - there are some prohibited sponsors, such as alcohol brands.
Another great change is these tournaments can be streamed on Twitch, YouTube, and other sites, and any footage captured by fans or professionals will not need to be handed over to Capcom. If the company sees the footage and likes it, it will reach out to ask for permission to use it in its own marketing materials.
These changes should make organising these grassroots events much easier and help fans of the game gather far and wide.