Capcom’s Street Fighter is one of the most recognizable fighting game titles in the world. Equal to the legacy associated with Street Fighter, the Capcom Cup is the largest fighting game event of its kind – sporting the largest prize pool in the fighting game community. The end cap to the year long Capcom Pro Tour, the event is truly international with competitors from 11 countries.

Here is an overview of the Capcom Cup.

What is the Capcom Cup?



The Capcom Cup is an invitational tournament that caps off the end of Capcom’s Pro Tour. Throughout the year, players from around the world compete at Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition in Premier and Ranking events with the hope of being one of the 30 players to qualify either as a Regional finalist or as one of the top 26 players on the Global Ranking Leaderboard. Along with those 30 players, the winner of the previous year is afforded a returning slot and one slot is granted to the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier.

The Capcom Cup will be held at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas in the Luxor Hotel & Casino from Dec. 14th through the 16th.

What’s the history of the Capcom Cup?



The Capcom Cup began in 2013 and featured three titles – Street Fighter x Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Each tournament had eight participants and the event’s players were chosen differently. For Street Fighter IV, the winner of Evo 2013 was auto qualified, while the other seven slots were filled in via different qualifying tournaments. The competitors for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 were voted in by fans. And for Street Fighter x Tekken, four players were invited by Capcom, while the other four were winners of online qualifiers. The event was held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California, on Dec. 14, 2013.

For 2014, Capcom announced that the Cup would be the end cap of the Capcom Pro Tour, which was partnered with Twitch. This time around competitors would compete for slots at the Capcom Cup by winning one of ten Premier events, or by being one of six players invited based on points accrued from placements at Capcom sponsored events. Unlike the previous year, the Pro Tour and the Capcom Cup focused on only one title: Street Fighter IV. The event was held on Dec. 13th at the The Warfield in San Francisco.

Credit: Capcom

In its third year, the Capcom Cup saw a new partner in Sony Interactive Entertainment, which would allow the tournament to see a significant increase in the prize pool – from $36K USD in 2014 to $250K in 2015. In 2015, the size of both the Pro Tour and the Capcom Cup grew as the tournament would have a total of 32 competitors. Previous winner, Yusuke Momochi, was granted auto qualification. Similar to 2014, slots were granted to winners of Premier events (15 in total). The other 16 competitors would qualify based on points accrued from competing at Premier events. As part of the new sponsorship with Sony, the Capcom Cup was held at the Playstation Experience in the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Dec. 6, 2015.

2016 would see a lot of changes to how one would qualify for the Capcom Cup. For 2016 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the 11 Capcom Pro Tour Global Premier Events, Evo 2016, one of the four regional events, and/or by scoring high on the game’s leaderboards. Also, with the release of Street Fighter V, Street Fighter IV was no longer the title players would be competing at. Once again, the prize pool for the Capcom Cup had increased, now being $350K. The other major change for the event was that it was now going to take place over the course of two days. Day one would take place on Dec. 2nd at the eSports Arena in Santa Ana, California, with day two taking place on Dec. 3rd at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Aside from placing in the top 26 on the Global Ranking Leaderboard, four players are given slots for being Regional Qualifier winners. [/perfectpullquote]

In 2017, the Capcom Cup saw two major changes. The first was that players would no longer auto qualify for winning a premier event. Instead, the top 30 players on the Global Leaderboard would be granted a slot at the Capcom Cup. Like years prior, the previous winner would be afforded a slot as well. Du “Nuckledu” Dang, the winner of the 2016 Capcom Cup, announced he would not be attending the event, and so his was given to the 2016 runner up – Ricki Oritz. The last slot, and the other major change to the Capcom Cup, would be given to the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier event – which was held on Dec. 8th at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel. The Capcom Cup returned to the Anaheim Convention Center and took place Dec. 9th-10th.

For 2018, the Capcom Cup is pretty much the same as the previous year. With the exception of a decrease in prize pool – from $350K to $250K – the overall structure of the event has not changed. Notably, all though the base prize pool has been reduced, fans can contribute to growing the prize pool by purchasing select in-game costumes and stages. Due to Sony’s cancellation of the Playstation Experience; the Capcom Cup will be taking place at the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas at The Luxor from Dec. 14th through the 16th.

How is the Capcom Cup structured?



The Capcom Cup is a three day event. The first portion of the Capcom Cup is the Last Chance Qualifier. Players who have not already qualified for one of the 30 open slots can enter the Last Chance Qualifier for the last slot in the tournament. The Last Chance Qualifier is a double-elimination bracket tournament. The winner of the LCQ is given the 19th seed in the Capcom Cup.

The Capcom Cup itself is a 32 man seeded bracket tournament that is double-elimination, similar to the Last Chance Qualifier. Seeding is determined by placement on the Global Leaderboard. Because the winner of the LCQ is given the 19th seed, the participants who placed 19th and below are slotted down one seed.

Credit: Capcom

How do players get into the Capcom Cup?



Players are able to qualify for the Capcom Cup via three different methods: being in the top 26 of the Global Leaderboard of the Capcom Pro Tour, being one of four Regional Qualifier winners, and being the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier. The winner of the previous Capcom Cup is also granted automatic entry to the next year’s tournament.

Throughout the year, players compete in tournaments recognized by Capcom as part of the Capcom Pro Tour to accrue points on the leaderboard. There are three types of tournaments – each giving out a different amount of points. The lowest tier of tournaments are Ranking events which give out points for those placing in the top eight. The second tier of tournaments are Premier events, which give out points for those placing from first all the way down to 33rd. The event that provides the most points is the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) – which gives points from first place all the way down to those tied for 129th.

Aside from placing in the top 26 on the Global Ranking Leaderboard, four players are given slots for being Regional Qualifier winners. Throughout the year, points are given to players who competed in Region Ranking events. The top eight players in their respective regions compete for a slot at the Capcom Cup. If the winner is someone who is already qualified for the Capcom Cup, the slot is given to the the highest ranking regional player who is not already for the event.