Tekken 7 Tournaments Evolution |
Posted: March 26, 2021 |
Tekken 7 was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment in March of 2015 on arcades and in 2017 on all the relevant platforms like PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Since then, the fighting game has enjoyed immense popularity among the general public and incredible success as a professional esports title. It’s the seventh entry in the acclaimed Tekken franchise, so everyone was already familiar with how it generally works and what it can offer. Therefore, it didn’t really need to start from the humble beginnings like many other new fighting games have to: it was present at the Evolution Championship Series 2015 as a main event in the year it was released. The BeginningsDuring the first few years of its existence, Tekken 7 wasn’t available on home consoles, and therefore, the organizers couldn’t really host world-spanning events or tours. However, it was still present at Evo 2015 and 2016, and there were official Bandai Namco Entertainment-payrolled The King of Iron Fist Tournament 2015 and 2016. Those early two years were dominated by two competitors: Daichi "NOBI" Nakayama and Jinwoo "Saint" Choi. The Japanese player won both of the 2015 events, and his South Korean rival answered back with a double in 2016. Image Credit: Dot Esports Everything changed after Tekken 7 became available for the public on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One platforms. All kinds of events started being held, from small tournaments with a couple of thousand-sized prize pools like Battle Arena Melbourne or Combo Breaker to massive events with big money at stake like VSFighting, Community Effort Orlando, or Evolution Championship Series. Tekken World TourImage Credit: Bandai Namco Entertainment But the biggest and the most expansive attractor was the season-spanning Tekken World Tour sponsored by the Tekken 7 developer Bandai Namco Entertainment itself. Like it’s rival Capcom with their Capcom Pro Tour, Bandai set up its own events while also incorporating the third party tournaments inside the series. The first two instalments of Tekken World Tour featured two levels of competition: Master and Challenger, with Evo being a special Master+ event. Master tier events attracted the highest-level players who fought for sizeable prize money while also earning leaderboard points that permitted participation in the season-end Tekken World Tour Finals. Challenger events were also frequented by high-level players who needed additional points to reinforce their standings on the table. The main difference was that those events offered less prize money and points than the Master tier. The 2019 season brought an essential change to the tour structure: a new level of competition was added to the TWT. Anyone around the world could host new Dojo tier events, provided the approval of the application by the organizers of the Tekken World Tour and the necessary amount of participants. The system helped with the grassroots-level of competition, and more than 100 events were registered within the very first year of Dojo tier existence. Each season’s crown jewel was Tekken World Tour Finals organized by Bandai Namco Entertainment itself, and it offered the largest prize pool of any event. In 2017 to get there, the players had to finish in the top-5 of their TWT regional ladder. The sixteenth slot was given to the champion of Evo 2017. The system was changed the following year with the introduction of the Last Chance Qualifiers, the tournament that awarded the final entry to the Finals alongside the twenty players qualified through the Tekken World Tour Leaderboard. Last year’s tour was jeopardized by the COVID-19 pandemic, but judging by the Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada’s activity on the subject, it will be coming back stronger than ever. Many previous and future events can be kept track of on the specialized Tekken tournaments page. Evolution Championship SeriesEvo has always had a special place in the Tekken competitive scene. The game series has been present at the most prestigious fighting game gathering in one way or another every year since 2003, and the current game, Tekken 7, was even revealed first at Evo 2014. In 2015, before the Tekken World Tour was even a thing, Bandai Namco Entertainment provided a sizeable bonus of $30,000 to the prize pool of the Tekken 7 event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztmm00fBgRY Tekken 7 Reveal trailer at Evo 2014 Video Source: IGN Channel The high-speed nature of the Tekken franchise means that every tournament of high skill level is enjoyable to watch. There’s no need to wait for the Tekken World Tour FInals to experience the best this esports title can bring. All you have to do is tune into any upcoming tournament and enjoy the battle!
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