« Too Many Games: A Good Problem to Have but What's the Solution? »

Walking around Final Round this past weekend was an amazing experience, as it should be. Seeing players from all over the world, meeting up with personal friends I haven't spoken to in years and of course scoping out all the matches both on the big screen and the numerous setups on the ballroom floor. 

One thing it made me realise though is that it seems there are simply too many games on the market and made me think about how tournaments and events could be restructured to accommodate all the games that are out now and the ones soon to be released.

This all circles back around to Street Fighter x Tekken which I see to be the tipping point as it is a huge game that everyone will be playing. What if this game was featured as yet another tournament at Final Round? What sort of affect would it have on the other games at the event?

Toss in new fighting games such as Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Skullgirls -- just to name a few -- and we're looking at running into some serious schedule conflicts with all the other games that are currently on the market.

Even looking at our local ranbat threads here in NorCal, it seems everyone is feeling the pain as we have to squeeze in all these games with only so many hours in the day. Discussions are already taking place on how to effectively run tournaments and bang out UMVC3 SSF4 and SF x TK brackets all in one night.

So what's the solution here? Do we cut out old favorites like Super Street Fighter 4 in the hopes that Street Fighter x Tekken replaces it? Bracket caps so there are no surprises with how long it will take to run the event? Do we move to harsher single elimination format just so we can plow through the brackets and get home at a decent hour? It seems no matter what the proposed solution is, either games will be cut or players and organizers will have to make compromises. 

What are your thoughts? Hit us up in the comments and let us know what you think and of course offer up any practical solutions you can think of!