February 19 made fighting game history in a couple of different ways, as Capcom’s president announced that Street Fighter 6’s tournament circuit will have a record-breaking prize pool of over $2 million in rewards. The winner of the Capcom Pro Tour in 2024 will receive a full $1 million.
This is the largest competitive prize pool ever offered for any kind of fighting game, breaking the $1.32 million record set in January 2022 by Brawlhalla, as well as one of the largest ever offered for solo esports competitors. While other games like Dota 2 frequently offer significantly bigger cash prizes, they’re all team activities, whereas Street Fighter competitions all end up as one-on-one.
The announcement came after the grand finals of Capcom Cup IX, held in Hollywood, California, on February 19, via a trailer introduced by Capcom president/COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto.
Capcom Cup X will be played on Street Fighter 6 with the winner receiving a whopping $1,000,000!
Who wants to be a millionaire? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/uVguQvX4Xc
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) February 20, 2023
The new season of the Capcom Pro Tour will begin this summer, presumably shortly after the official release of Street Fighter 6 on June 2, 2023. Multiple tournaments around the world participate in the Pro Tour, which typically runs up to December. High-ranking entrants in those tournaments’ Street Fighter 6 brackets will earn points towards qualifying for the Capcom Cup, to be held in early 2024.
This year’s Capcom Cup IX was the last major tournament for the departing Street Fighter 5, which is being officially retired from competition after just over seven years. The grand finals saw returning 2017 champion Saul “MenaRD” Mena II take a 3-1 match with Luke over newcomer Zhen Kuang’s M. Bison. This makes MenaRD the only player to ever successfully win more than one Capcom Cup in the competition’s history.
By way of comparison, MenaRD took home $120,000 for winning Capcom Cup IX, with Zhen earning $50,000 for second. Winners of the tournament have also historically been given the option to design a special costume for their chosen character which will be added to the game; MenaRD’s skin for Birdie is currently available in SFV as “CPT 2018.”
Past Capcom Cups have had higher prize pools than 2023’s – MenaRD earned $250,000 for his victory in 2017 – but the $1 million purse for 2024’s Capcom Cup is significantly more than Capcom has ever offered before.
As a result, dozens of fighting game pro players are now making public plans to get very interested in Street Fighter 6. It’s likely that the Capcom Pro Tour for the rest of 2023 is going to be a murderer’s row as pros come out of retirement, switch games, or train up for their shot at the purse.
