Ryan "Prodigal Son" Hart, longtime FGC competitor © @Ohsuakira

Ryan Hart has been competing in and winning major events and championships for almost as long as some newer Street Fighter players have been alive. But you might have noticed a lack of the “Prodigal Son” at Capcom Pro Tour events this year. Life has presented Hart with new challenges, forcing him to change his priorities. Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere. He’s adapting to those challenges head-on and preparing himself for another chapter in his storied career as one of the most recognizable and winningest fighting game competitors in the world.

Ryan Hart gets hype during competition © Ryan Hart

Adjusting to Life's Challenges

New relationships change everything. In Hart’s case, he relocated from the United Kingdom to Germany. He’s finding his way around a scene that is spread out across Germany. The local options for competition are limited now, so he has to make do with the online community. A lack of local play is a big change of pace for Street Fighter training. Even the best of connections isn’t always the same as playing Street Fighter against someone sitting next to you. Having the local events and sessions plays into how Hart prepared for tournaments.

“It’s a very different environment and community. It’s more about what I can wring out of the sponge of the online community and try to level up my gameplay that way,” Hart said.

Training isn’t the only part of his regimen that has been affected. Hart has competed in noticeably less major events in 2015 as compared to recent years. He’s also taken note of his less than stellar results. His notable results for 2015 include a 4th place finish at Dreamhack Summer, a 13th place finish at Red Bull Kumite and Stunfest , and a 25th place finish at Evo 2015 . By this time last year, he had already qualified for Capcom Cup 2014 with a win at Final Round 17. He understands you can’t place if you aren’t playing. After struggling with the changes, it’s become a new challenge in his long and storied career.

“At first it was frustrating,” Hart said. “You get used to what you like. You don’t want to have to make changes if you don’t want to.”

“Now it’s more like a personal challenge. It’s something I’m starting to enjoy for something that’s different. I want to strive for success inside this field of practicing and gameplay I’m in now.”

Compete and Have Fun

If there’s one thing Ryan Hart knows, its adaptation. Playing online might afford him an opportunity to try out different play styles he wouldn’t have previously. He looks at his new challenges as a way to change his approach to competition. Hart has proven his adaptability in his career by playing numerous games like Street Fighter, Tekken, and King of Fighters at a high level. Playing multiple fighting games allows him to process situations differently and analyze them critically. Adaptation contributes to his longevity in competitive fighting games, but Hart pointed out he’s hung around the scene for so long because he’s still having fun.

“The best you can get out of gaming is to get into it for fun, and then more will evolve,” Hart said. “If you only aim to be the best, nothing else is going to be good enough. I think we should all just enjoy it. If you’re good enough, more will come anyway.”

“I get a lot of messages from people who want to be pro gamers. They want to be the best and that’s all it’s about for them.”

Pepeday reacts in a match vs Ryan Hart (right) © Red Bull eSports

Elevate Street Fighter's Status

With recent financial growth in the FGC, it could be easy to get swept up in the chase for the money. New players to the scene aren’t always equipped to deal with the eSports side of the FGC. Hart acknowledged it can be frustrating for players who love Street Fighter but will never be as good as the player above you. If you’re not having fun with it, it will be that much harder to succeed on any level, not just the top tiers.

“It all started with some guy sitting in an office with his feet on a desk smoking a cigar, wearing a pinstripe suit in a leather swivel chair. ‘We’ve got this budget. We’re about to do this tournament. Get all the arcades together and get them to get their best guys to London,'” Hart joked about the evolution of fighting games as an eSport.

Now, Hart wants the FGC to play a bigger role in eSports. In Europe, events like Dreamhack typically feature multiple genres of eSports like fighting games, first-person shooters, and MOBAs. EGL Dallas 10K is trying to replicate the formula in the U.S. Ultra Street Fighter IV isn’t considered the premier tournament at events like Dreamhack. Hart would like to see more financial commitment from corporations to help elevate the scene, instead of relying solely on the developers and publishers like Capcom.

Change Is Good

Some long-time competitors fear the FGC getting too big, too fast. The FGC is a grassroots community, even to this day, holding on to its identity that makes it different or special compared to other gaming communities. To reiterate the earlier point, change doesn’t seem to bother Hart.

“I don’t think change is a bad thing,” he said. “We are still in control [of the FGC], where we’re still able to make it our thing. It’s still growing. It attracts multiple demographics. That’s what we want. We want it to be something that’s open, welcome, and fun.”

There will come a point where the fighting game competition won’t be fun anymore or Hart will not be able to compete at the level he expects out of himself. When that day comes, it will naturally happen. Retirement won’t be something forced into his head through chatter in the community. That day isn’t coming anytime soon.

“What’s weird is I’ve noticed there’s no difference in my ability to do things at a high level,” Hart said. “I thought once I reached my 30s, I’d start getting slower.”

Ryan Hart performing his best Ryu impersonation © Guinness World Records

Time hasn’t caught up to Ryan Hart yet. He’ll continue competing until he finds something better to do. He’ll need something to keep those “quivering fingers” busy. He’s grateful for the opportunities to travel around the world, experiencing numerous cultures, and meeting people who became his closest friends. But professional gaming also gave him confidence, something he said he lacked when he was younger, and he’s taken that confidence and applied to other areas of his life.

“Gaming has helped me express myself. It made me want to do other things,” Hart said. “If perhaps I had not gone the route of pro gaming, I wouldn’t have had these opportunities. It’s something I can only thank pro gaming for."