Riot Games' decision to lay off half the 2XKO dev team within two weeks of the game's formal launch and a ~900 person showing at Frosty Faustings has ignited the FGC discourse flare about the state of the genre as it pertains to the gaming industry writ large once again. A lot of this discussion is centered around what the game was lacking as a product,[1] while others instead would rather focus on the things Riot was banking on that did not or could not pan out in reality.[2] Others still pinned the blame on the core gameplay itself, whether their prognostication was that it was too simple or not simple enough.[3]
I think this is all missing the forest for the trees. First off, not to get all "capitalism is the problem" here, but Riot nuking a dev team because a fighting game did fighting game numbers and not Fortnite numbers felt like an inevitability. I am at a loss for why "Fortnite numbers" should be aspired to in the first place, especially when that gets interpreted as a mandate to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
So, here's where we are right now: fighting games are a niche genre, with each individual game/franchise/company having its own core (or if you wish to be more cynical, captive) audience. Those already within this niche can and should be at the forefront of developers' minds regarding both core gameplay and feature set. If only there was an example of a genre that had similar history to fighting games that already chose embracing the niche over futile efforts at chasing mainstream appeal...
The Case of Shmups
Shoot 'em ups (hereafter referred to as "shmups"), much like fighting games, originated in the arcades and had their greatest relevancy back when arcades were still widespread. When arcades started to go away, both genres ceded cultural capital to the most popular home release centered genres like sports games and FPSes. Shmup developers as whole saw the writing on the wall and went all-in on the idea of being a genre for enthusiasts.
An entire subgenre, one so popular within the enthusiast space that onlookers conflate it with the shmup genre as a whole, owes its existence and evolution to the idea that enthusiasts will be the bulk of the playerbase. I am of course talking about bullet hell. Recca, often cited as the precursor to the bullet hell genre in retrospectives of it, was created specifically for a competition for superplayers of classics from the earlier days of the shmup genre. With the conventions of danmaku codified later in the decade, the arms races (yes, plural) began.[5]
Challenges in bullet hell games primarily take the forms of survival runs and scoring runs. The main mechanism developers use to up the ante on survival runs is simply making danmaku patterns that are harder to dodge. Scoring systems, on the other hand, are very diverse and can have many complex moving parts, defining the what and how of making number go up.
Of the two types of challenge runs, I would say that playing for score has more applicability to the fighting game genre. The myriad of scoring system mechanics map to the system mechanics that underpine the rules of engagement for most fighting games, and having diverse, balanced shot types that interact with the game's core mechanics in different ways matches the need for diverse character kits and gameplans. While shot type does matter to an extent in survival runs, the objective of survival is simpler: mimimize the use of the resources of lives, bombs, and whatever is specific to the game.
The focus placed on systems and their level of depth is quite intentional. Deep system mechanics that offer a lot of skill expression in their use is a sign that developers trust their games' players. Fighting game developers even did this in the past, adding a mechanic or two that serves to add a little extra English to an already fundamentally solid core (ie: red parries in Third Strike or Slashbacks in +R). The logical extreme of mechanical complexity in shmups is Hellsinker and it's many intricacies. A game like Hellsinker is only possible in the realm of "doujin" (distinct from "indie") games, where being a hobbyist is part of the job description. Ho fighting game analog to Hellsinker currently exists, though I am sure as hell that there is an audience for one.[6]
On "Saving Fighting Games"
Shmups being a single-player genre while fighting games are a multiplayer genre means even after applying the above tenets, the framework is still incomplete. Sure, you can host competitions for single-player games, such as speedrun races or what the Touhou World Cup team is doing, but these fall under the category of parallel play as opposed to interacting with other players directly. With this in mind, for competitive multiplayer genres, "embracing the niche" must stem from the values of the community and how the developers interact with the community along with how the developers make their games.
Name a fighting game currently in prerelease. Or, for that matter, recall any fighting game prerelease cycle you distinctly remember. Chances are, someone, somwehere, was hyping said game as the savior of fighting games. What they're envisioning when they say that, not even they know, but they certainly would like to remind you that the FGC is being saved.
The premise that any one release can "save the fighting game genre" is just intriguing enough that I'm willing to play devil's advocate before refuting it below. There was in fact one release that changed my mind about the trajectory of the fighting game genre: the rollback update for +R. The roaring success of GGPO+R[7] proved without a shadow of a doubt that working with talented community members to integrate rollback netcode (and later quickmatch lobbies) into your back catalog of games was a worthwhile investment.
The key aspect of that was that it was a community effort to get to that point, meaning that the onus of "saving fighting games" is actually on the community. How can this be accomplished? For one, stop worrying about mainstream appeal and instead play the games and go to the events you actually like. Variety is the spice of life, and there is a good chance your favorite things are something you haven't tried yet. If this seems like a radical idea to you, welcome to this website, enjoy your stay!
In all seriousness, its easier to do this than ever. A larger share of the genre has stable, functioning rollback netcode than ever before, the vast majority of these games with their netcode community-developed. The call to be a TO is being answered by more and more, first with netplay series and eventually offline. The amount of games said TOs are running are more diverse than ever.
I refer to the act of playing games you genuinely enjoy together with people you genuinely enjoy the company of regardless of any stigmas associated with that is what I call "The Assignment". Also included in The Assignment is viewing things in a constructive matter instead of a destructive matter. For example, instead of using a major's entrants leaderboards/milestones as a way to put down games you don't play, center them as a point of pride for what your games' communities can accomplish.[8]
In the immediate afterglow of Climax of Night every year, the main takeaway from people who don't play French Bread games is "damn I wish we had something like this".< The thing is, if you not only support your scene but curate it so that it shares the same values that you do, you can! This is "Understanding the Assignment" in action.