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A new era in fighting game competition begins in 2023, as Capcom is set to make Street Fighter 6 the exclusive game of its Capcom Pro Tour series. And the company is putting its money where its mouth is, backing the new game with a huge $2 million prize pool, a cool $1 million of which will go to the winner of the next Capcom Cup — the culminating event of the Pro Tour.
Capcom Cup X will be played on Street Fighter 6 with the winner receiving a whopping $1,000,000!
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) February 20, 2023
Who wants to be a millionaire? pic.twitter.com/uVguQvX4Xc
The announcement was made at the end of Capcom Cup IX on Sunday, Feb. 19. The last Cup to be fought in Street Fighter 5 was won by MenaRD, a.k.a. Saul Leonardo Mena Segundo from the Dominican Republic. The prize pool for the 2022 Pro Tour and Capcom Cup IX was just $300,000, which shows just how serious Capcom is about launching Street Fighter 6 with a splash on the esports scene. Though not that big by global esports standards — the 2021 Dota 2 International offered an astonishing $40 million prize pool — the $2 million reward Capcom is offering is massive for fighting games.
According to fighting game site EventHubs, the 2023 Capcom Pro Tour will also be the first to integrate online events — a vote of confidence from Capcom in the reliability of Street Fighter 6’s netcode.
Street Fighter 6 launches on June 2, 2023 — and it’s not all about the pro players. Capcom has also implemented a new “dynamic” control scheme, available in local play only, which translates hapless button-mashing into something like skilled play. It won’t win you a million dollars, but it sounds like a lot of fun.