“We consider the fighting game as a noble esport, because we are facing ourselves”, underlines Laure Valée

While the French club Vitality has just announced its launch into fighting games, with the recruitment of a professional player for the game “Tekken”, focus on the place occupied by this type of game in esports, with Laure Valée, franceinfo consultant.

News from esports and major video game tournaments with our consultant, Laure Valée, for a meeting dedicated to a type of game that we haven’t really mentioned here yet, fighting games. The French club Vitality has just launched one of them, “Tekken”, by recruiting a South Korean player, Jeonddingwho is also participating this weekend in a major tournament in Japan.

franceinfo: Fighting games are quite iconic in the world of video games, is it also in the world of esports?

Laure Valée: It’s true that it’s one of the pillars of video games, and it’s also one of the pillars of esports games. Fighting games are one of the first games to really become popular in esports, one-on-one, so obviously, it’s a concept that is easy to understand and which was very popular. Today, I think that when we can talk about different types of sports, fighting games are one of the main ones.

Cult licenses that perhaps speak to some and some to Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken or Smash Bros.These are games more popular in Asia than in Europe ?

Laure Valée: It’s true that when we think of the history of video games, we inevitably have fighting games. We found them a lot in arcades, in South Korea and Japan in particular. So these are games that have really taken root in this part of the world, that have been around for decades. So it’s true that esports, and in any case, the practice of fighting games has become more popular in Asia, although ultimately, esports is not as well seen in Japan as in South Korea .

So it’s true that France developed enormously subsequently. But there you have it, these are games that were found a lot in Asia and which were subsequently exported to make the esports that we know today.

These fighting games promise great atmospheres every time, is that one of the special features?

We have a lot of very good players in fact, on different fighting game titles. It’s true that the French community is extremely active in this part of esports. This gives rise to events where fans will really give their all, behind the players they want to support. Then the essence of fighting games is one on one, which generally gives a lot of enthusiasm during competitions. The fans are very numerous, are very noisy during these events, and this gives rise to magnificent esports moments.

What qualities do fighting games require for professional players because we don’t play in teams, unlike many other games?

In fact, it’s generally one against one, so it’s an esport that we will consider as a noble esport precisely because we are facing ourselves. It requires a lot of rigor, a lot of concentration. Knowing how to execute combos, therefore sequences of keys very, very quickly. It’s a sport that is truly complete and that’s also what makes it impressive.