Capcom has released details for this year’s Capcom Pro Tour (CPT) Tokyo Game Show tournament, and it’s set to be one of the first major Japanese esports events with a large prize pool.
The competition, which is set to take place sometime in September, will have a 10 million yen prize pool (approx. $90,000). It will be the first Street Fighter V tournament in Japan where Japanese players can compete as paid professionals. This is after the introduction of the country’s pro license, called the Japan eSports Union (JeSU) pro player license. It was bought into law in February, giving players the chance to sidestep strict gambling laws in Japan to win bigger prizes.
Currently, under Japanese law, tournaments in Japan cannot give large cash prizes to players if they have had to pay an entrance or venue fee for the event. Originally, organizers were given a 100,000 yen cap ($900) on prize pools for events that try to sell products—which esports fell under.
The new laws and licenses could potentially open the floodgates for more esports titles to invest in the Japanese market in the future.
Japan is the home to some of the best fighting game players in the world, such as Daigo Umehara and Taniguchi “Tokido” Hajime, so other fighting games like Smash Bros. Ultimate and Dragon Ball FighterZ could look to use the license as a way to push the games to a higher competitive audience in the future.
The Tokyo Game Show event is one of the final events on the CPT calendar. A lot of fighting game players will be looking to secure good placements there to help them qualify for the Capcom Cup.
