CPT 2024: Low International Turnout Sparks Worries Over Offline Format

One of the criticisms of 2023's Capcom Pro Tour was that it had too few offline events with only Evo and then two other events allowing players to qualify for Capcom Cup 2023. 

Capcom made a change and added 6 tournaments as tour stops, but not only that, they also added two other Capcom organized 'super premiers' to enable players qualify for Capcom Cup. 

But there are fears in some quarters that the interest in the offline tournaments haven't been really high as opposed to times past. 

Big Bird mentioned this in a social media post where he stated that he noticed a lack of interest from international players as regards traveling for events. According to him, he believes this is due to the format of the CPT and the lack of adequate cash prizes for winners and impressive performers has led to this. 

The current CPT format stipulates that only the winners of the premier events qualify for Capcom Cup and for Super Premiers, the top 2. This is a departure from the leaderboard system that was the norm in the past. Some think that this departure has made the tournaments less profitable for players who have to really back themselves with the possibility of very little return. 

This has mostly affected players from Asia who will have to pay a lot to make the trip to these events.

East Coast Throwdown, one of the stops on the CPT currently only has Daigo Umehara and Itabashi Zangief in attendance from Japan. There is very little representation from other countries in Asia, and this has added to the question of whether there is less interest. 

It will be interesting to see what the turnout for the Super Premier in Singapore which takes place from the 18th of October 2024.