Tekken 7 is the latest console fighter on the block, and, if a study conducted by GitHyp is any indication, it looks like the Iron Fist Tournament might actually have the staying power to oust Street Fighter V as the king of the genre.
Taking a look at the launch periods of both games, these industry statistics experts noticed a rather interesting trend. During the same stretch of time, Tekken 7 peaked with 28 percent more PC players than Street Fighter V ’s post-launch days in February of last year. Talking specifics, Tekken 7 peaked at 18,743 actives to Street Fighter V ’s 14,155 actives.
While the difference is fairly small, GitHyp’s analysis makes the claim that this unexpected popularity swing could have an impact on EVO lineups and the fighting game community in the future. Competitors in the genre often have their own specialties, but the most fan attention could quickly turn to the title where the highest number of champions play. That fact alone is why Street Fighter has basically headlined all of EVO since the tournament began. It’s the most popular franchise, so it gets the biggest stage.
What these early numbers suggest, however, is that, at least on PC, there’s a measurable increase in intrigue behind Tekken 7 over the past few weeks. Might that mean EVO 2018 will be capped off with Tekken -themed festivities? It’d probably be too hasty to predict that, but it shows that support for Tekken is certainly in a state of growth.
That being said, just like all statistics, there are plenty of reasons to take these ones with a grain of salt. After all, Tekken 7 marks the first time this historic franchise has ever been playable on PC. With that uniqueness in mind, more gamers on Steam may be eager to check it out. Mainline Street Fighter , on the other hand, has existed on PC since 2009. In that circumstance, maybe SF fans tried the PC build back then and ultimately feel more at home on console today.
It’s also worth pointing out that Tekken 7 released to a much stronger critical reception than Street Fighter V as well. Currently, Tekken 7 has a Metacritic rating of 81 to Street Fighter V ’s 77. The score difference is somewhat small there, but so too is the popularity swing. Not only that, but Street Fighter V came bundled with the overwhelming narrative of being a game that was incredibly feature-shallow with some broken online features. Tekken 7 isn’t massively deep, but it at least has a fully realized story mode from the start.
These factors contribute to more public interest in Tekken 7 , and some of them are totally out of Capcom’s control. It’s clear that Namco’s game is bigger on PC at its launch, but it remains to be seen how long the trend will hold.
Tekken 7 is available now on PS4, Xbox One and PC, while Street Fighter V is only on PS4 and PC.
What do you think of these numbers? Will Tekken 7 be the future headliner of EVO? Tell us in the comments section!
