Dignitas departs fighting game scene, says goodbye to Ryan Hart

Team Dignitas have apparently decided to leave the fighting game scene behind as it further entrenches itself in the PC realm.

While Dignitas haven’t officially announced it is stepping away from fighting games, the team’s sole representative in the scene has said it’s happening. Notable Street Fighter and Tekken player Ryan Hart took to Twitter to announce that he had become a free agent.

Currently open to new working partnerships. Contact me here or by email on: neriahsensei@gmail.com Look forward to hearing from you! 🙂

— Flummi (@RyanJosephHart) February 10, 2015

When asked to explain, Hart offered that Dignitas management had told him they would be stepping away from any game that wasn’t based on the PC platform.

@MrMostafles Well, Dignitas told me they are prioritising PC, so no money for console. At least I got to win over 20 medals for them. 😀

— Flummi (@RyanJosephHart) February 10, 2015

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Hart, one of the fighting game community’s most notable players. Hart has managed to have success at the highest levels of multiple games, including the title he currently focuses most heavily on, Street Fighter 4.

With the Capcom Pro Tour coming up this year and boasting a $500,000 minimum prize pool, it seemed a prime time for prominent esports organizations to come into the scene, not leave it. But according to Hart, fighting games just don’t occupy the right space for Dignitas to be interested in them at the moment.

It’s likely no coincidence that just last week Dignitas announced the acquisition of a Smite team. Smite declared its formal arrival among prominent esports this year with the Smite World Championship, which surprised many unfamiliar with the game by raising enough money to make it one of the richest esports tournaments ever played.

Dignitas already had a place in the Smite scene with a previous team. Committing to a new one fits neatly with their other sponsored teams in popular PC games such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

And if Hart is to be believed, that fit is far more snug for Dignitas management than anything a fighting game could currently provide.

Screengrab via Capcom Fighters/YouTube