Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 may feel like they've been around for hundreds of years, but they still pull in audiences like no other fighting games currently on the market. Both titles were, of course, part of Evo 2022, which happened just last weekend — and now esports analytics outfit Esports Charts has crunched the numbers to find out which titles attracted the most viewers during the event.
We're going off peak viewership here, meaning that these are the absolute highest viewer counts posted during each game's respective tournament.
Without further ado...
- Street Fighter V - 250,730 peak viewers
- Tekken 7 - 250,566
- Guilty Gear Strive - 201,883
- King of Fighters XV - 146,360
- Mortal Kombat 11 - 95,664
- Dragon Ball FighterZ - 84,018
- Granblue Fantasy Versus - 69,265
Aforementioned juggernauts Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 came shockingly close to having the same number of peak viewers, and both managed to top Guilty Gear Strive — the game that was essentially the headline act of Evo 2022, with its Top 8 acting as the finale of the entire event.
But there are a couple of key factors that people need to be aware of before reading into this data. For starters, it must be noted that Guilty Gear Strive, being the last game on the agenda, didn't begin its Top 8 until around 4AM BST / 5AM CET. Needless to say, much of Evo's European audience had probably gone to bed by then, which would have obviously lowered the total number of viewers.
Next, the likes of Mortal Kombat 11, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Granblue Versus all had their Top 8 matches on the second day of Evo 2022, as opposed to the final day, which traditionally sees only the biggest tournaments come to a close. The viewer counts on Evo's second day are generally much lower.
Still, the stats make for an interesting read. It's safe to say that in terms of viewership, Evo 2022 was a huge success, racking up some seriously impressive figures throughout the weekend.
[source escharts.com]
Comments 24
Surprised since mk11 is the best selling fighter out of those
I watched most of the SF and Tekken Top 8 but even on the East Coast I had to tap out for Strive. It started way too late, especially on a Sunday night.
@RudeAnimat0r my thoughts exactly. It was actually easier for me to watch Strive because here in Europe it was at 6:30 in the morning - but I gotta assume most of the viewers were American and not everyone could stay up past midnight on a Sunday.
Still not able to break Smash Ultimate's record of 279k in 2019.
I love watching competitive Tekken 7 play. There's something so crazy about watching the players pull those combos off and hearing the announcers pop off.
That SFV Top 8 was legitimately one of the best shows of competition I've ever seen. I was absolutely glued to my TV screen!
@Pat_trick people really love their party games huh ? that’s like bragging about wii sports having more viewers than MLB 😂😂
@CapGod if i recall , the FGC don’t respect MK ; it sells a lot because of the casuals who played it for a few weeks , or month , and don’t play it anymore . it has a mainstream appeal , but that’s it . i don’t think it’s gameplay/reputation is popular to the people who support fighting games long term .
sad really , because mk is the coolest fighter out of all them , or at least it could’ve been .
@nomither6 Oh goodie! One of those FGC purists?
Yeah, definitely just a party game that doesn't require any skill at all. I hope one day we can reach your level of coolness and play REAL fighting games and have a REAL avatar like your sonic one. You're so cool, bro
@nomither6
Why doesn't mk have that the other ones do?
@Pat_trick
Did you wake up well today?
@Pat_trick so what i got from that is , being pure is considered edgy now ? lol , gotcha . 👍😂
@CapGod the FGC usually rags on MK as an entry level fighter because of its dial-a-combo system instead of frame links , block button , meters that refill automatically, big chip damage , teleporting which “breaks neutral” , 50/50s (google it because i’m not sure what it is) , easily spammable projectiles that don’t clash with eachother & its poor animation of stiff movement and attacks .
another one which i think is just nitpicking BS , but there are actually some people that think MKs graphics are bad and prefer their fighters to look toon or anime .
Removed - flaming/arguing
@Pat_trick
Do you think I care? Clearly I responded lol.
You def woke up with the wrong foot today.
@nomither6
Ok. That's sums it up. Thanks. I enjoyed mk11 more than sf5.
Good for Street Fighter V and Tekken. Seems like this years EVO was just a big success all together.
@nomither6 50/50s are situations where you essentially need to guess between two evenly possible situations. For instance, let’s say a character does a low kick and can either cancel it into a follow up attack or a follow up command grab. You either could block the follow up or attack/jump the command grab, but you have to guess.
Also yeah imo MK looks garbage. The visual clarity is such a mess, and yeah compared to even “realistic” looking games like Tekken 7 and Street Fighter 6 are way more stylized. Not to mention the really bad animations.
@nomither6 thanks for that explanation. I generally love netherrealms games. Tried to get into tekken but those command lists are a little intimidating 😅
Meanwhile I only watched the Soul Calibur one.
@CapGod that guy seems salty for no reason today. Lol! Good for Street Fighter & Tekken. Two lasting games that deserve the attention.
@nomither6 that party game comment got under his skin. Well said though.
The super moves killed Tekken for me, I don't care about online or any of that stuff, I just want a good old fashioned offline brawl with my friends to not involve those, is that really too much to ask as an option? Team Battles too, why are those gone?
@CapGod I don't know but I bought it 4 times: 2 on switch (physical and digital), one on steam and one on psn.
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