By Ginx TV
Capcom’s fighting game makes it way towards ESPN as the broadcasting company announces it will show the next Street Fighter 5 finals on its ESPN2 channel.
The sports channel has dipped its toe in eSports before – most notoriously with Heroes Of The Storm in 2015 – but has failed to gain much interest. With Street Fighter 5 it is looking to once again tap into the growing competitive gaming scene.
It will be Evo – or Evolution Championship Series to give it the full name – that plays host to ESPN2’s stream of the Street Fighter 5 finals, giving both the tournament and the game the world’s stage to be seen on.
It will likely give a great deal of acknowledgement to Street Fighter 5, which is already a significant title in the eSports scene. Despite its initial issues, the game has gone on to become the number one fighting game for the FGC scene.
So much so, in fact, Evo has seen more entrants for Street Fighter 5 in four days than any other game before; a pretty significant achievement.
“The Street Fighter V World Championship will be one of the must-see competitions from the Evo finals,” said ESPN’s John Lasker in a press release. “We are always exploring ways to serve the growing and passionate audience of competitive gaming, and we look forward to delivering this event to fans.”
Evo will take place between the 15 and 17 July 2016, covering a broad range of fighting games: Street Fighter 5, Super Smash Bros Melee, Mortal Kombat X and Marvel Vs Capcom Ultimate 3, among others.
The coverage will take place on the 17 July 2016, however, since ESPN2 will only be hosting the Street Fighter 5 Championship Finals. Live coverage begins at 10AM EST (2PM BST), and will be available to view on WatchESPN.
ESPN claims it will continue to look into ways it can cover eSports and, alongside TBS’s ELeague, is one more step into wider media coverage of competitive gaming.