« Keits Discusses the End of UFGT and His Future »

Photo courtesy of Adam HeartOn Feb. 8, Adam "Keits" Heart and the crew behind Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament announced that the upcoming event, UFGT 10, will be the last tournament under that banner. While the posting to the UFGT website answered some questions, however, the future of both a Midwestern major and Heart himself remained in doubt.

IPLAYWINNER caught up with the man known as Keits and asked him about the end of an era, the changes in his life and how the Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament made it this far.

IPW: UFGT has always been your event, although you publicly acknowledge there's no way you could run the tournament without a great staff. That said, does the end of UFGT mean that Adam Heart, tournament organizer, is riding off into retirement?

AH: People who are close to me have known that I've wanted to quit for a long time.  A big part of the reason, though, is the risk and effort something like UFGT takes.  I think that if I scaled it way down, took less risk and took on less work, that I could manage something very clean, on time and presentable.  But that isn't UFGT, you know?  UFGT is all the extra stuff, the carnival games, the panels, etc.  I wouldn't feel right holding an event called "UFGT" that didn't live up to that standard.  So, if you see me doing stuff in the future, it's going to be dialed way back and a lot of the burden will be shared with my most trusted assistants.

IPW: Your life has gone through a lot of changes since you started Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament: you were hired on at Iron Galaxy, you went from talking about games to making them with Divekick and you even got married last year. What influenced your decision to end UFGT with this year's event?

AH: If I'm being honest, UFGT9 was really rough for me.  A lot of people who I'd treated as friends came at me pretty aggressively last year to try to cut me down.  I'll admit that I was in a pretty deep depression for a few weeks after the event.  Once I recovered I got back to being my normal self.  I'm not usually an emotional guy.  My brain is ruled by logic and I plan carefully.  When I looked at what I was doing logically, it just didn't make sense.  I'm taking a huge personal financial risk running UFGT every year, and while I've been blessed so far and that money has come back to me, at any moment something could go wrong and really hurt me.  The money coming in is laughable compared to the time I have to invest and the personal risk I have to take.  It just isn't a responsible thing to keep on doing.

Beyond that, my father has been putting in really hard work at my events trying to make your downtime special for the last few years.  He loves doing it, but I can't keep asking him to do it.  He is wonderful and supportive and awesome, but it isn't fair to force him to come every time just because of the expectation that he will be there.  He has a life to live and things to do, and I want to make sure I'm not a burden.

Lastly, as you said, I'm getting busier. I thought I was at the apex of how busy I could get doing Divekick, UFGT, Wedding planning, SRK front page and working at Iron Galaxy all at once.  I've shed a few of those obligations, obviously (wedding is over, I'm not with SRK anymore), but I'm only getting busier.  This year is going to be insane for me.  I'm extremely excited about it and I hope I can keep releasing games and making people smile.

IPW: With UFGT bowing out after this year, any idea what will take its place as the Midwestern major?

AH: I think that if I don't start up something more streamlined to take its place that my wing-men (sic) (Rick [Thiher] and Max [Wasserman]) will likely step in and do it.  Odds are that the three of us will put something together and make sure Chicago has its major.  It just won't have carnival games and panels and expensive trophies and free raffles and all the other pricey UFGT flavor.

IPW: During UFGT's tenure, you've had some very public confrontations with players upset about the way you run your event. What made you want to keep putting it on, year after year?

AH: Because I believe I'm doing the right thing.  I'm trying to show people that you don't have to be bullied, and that you can stick to a schedule and the rules and make deeper payouts and rise above the really selfish, negative voices trying to stop you.  Those voices are brutal and they hurt sometimes, but if you believe in your goals you just have to stand up for them.

Sometimes you disqualify a close friend, because they were late, and they are understanding.  They know you had to stick to the rules and make no exceptions.  Other times, you get people who are less understanding and want the rules bent for them.  The idea of absolute fairness to all attendees is not a game to me, so I just don't play along.  So why did I want to keep doing it every year?  Easy.  Because it is supposed to be this super fun gathering for all these amazing people who have similar interests. When people aren't being awful, it's a beautiful thing.

IPW: When you had more time to play games, you were a big fixture in the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and SNK scenes, specifically titles such as World Heroes Perfect. With UFGT winding down, what are the chances we see one of those titles make an appearance for old times' sake?

AH: If I thought anyone would enter those games, I'd run them in a heartbeat.  WHP is so under appreciated, and I've been wanting to play it again lately.  TvC, unfortunately, was really replaced by Marvel for me.  I was playing TvC because I wanted a new Marvel VS game.  As soon as I got one, I bailed pretty hard and never looked back.  Even Vanilla MvC3 is so much better than TvC in my eyes.  So much more fun.

I'm really just a fighting game guy though.  I like almost all of them.  I'd rather be known as a fighting game guy than an SNK or TvC guy, or that guy who likes items in Smash.  Playing is fun.  Simple as that.

IPW: Going forward, what's next for Adam Heart? You've certainly had a pretty full plate the last few years.

AH: Follow me on twitter @TheKeits and find out.  It's going to be a big year, and it may even top last year (which, if you allow me to brag  for a moment, was incredible.  I made a game that appeared on multiple platforms and was nominated and awarded many times over the year by major outlets.  I could not be more proud.)

IPW: Lastly, [Super Desperation Radio co-host and IPW contributor] Giby "ManChest" Zia has been saying he's planning to attend UFGT for a number of years. Now that the last one is upcoming, what are the chances you think he'll show up? Is he ducking you?

AH: 0% chance.  Ducking me full time like it's his job.