EVO USA is kicking off for 2025, bringing the Fighting Game Community (FGC) together for the most popular event on the calendar. While esports pros battle it out in their respective disciplines, publishers like Capcom, Bandai Namco, SNK, and Sega will be looking to make a splash with huge announcements.
The fierce loyalty of the FGC is a double-edged sword though: Theyโre engaged, yes, but theyโre also such a tight-knit community that itโs tough for newcomers to break in. How can brands connect with these audiences, and how can publishers convince diehard fans of certain franchises to try out their titles? In this article, weโll look at the performance of Fighting Games on live streaming.
This is just a taste of our full Fighting Games report: To download the full report for free, click here:
The Fighting Genre Steps Up Thanks to Street Fighter 6
The popularity of Fighting Games over the last several years can be split into two distinct periods: Before and after the release of Street Fighter 6 on June 2nd 2023. Capcomโs OG Fighter brought in an extra 40M quarterly hours watched when it debuted and has consistently brought in that amount (or greater) ever since. Prior to this, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was typically the top Fighting Game with ~10M hours watched per quarter. Platform Fighters have always performed well due to their more casual gameplay and party-based atmosphere, including Brawlhalla and Multiversus (which bumped up Fighting Game viewership during its release in Q3 2022 by ~30M hours watched).
Street Fighter 6 appeals to both hardcore pros and casual audiences alike, particularly among the Japanese community. Itโs no surprise then that YouTube Gaming has grown its share of Fighting Game viewership over time, given that the platform hosts some of the most popular Japanese streamers and VTubers. In Q2 2025, YouTube Gaming accounted for just over ยผ of all Fighting Game viewership, up from under 20% in the quarter prior to the release of Street Fighter 6. This is huge: Fighting Games are connected to the esports scene which usually thrives on Twitch. Movement towards YouTube Gaming could mean more esports fans finding content on Googleโs platform instead.
Arcade Fighters Have The Strength to Carry the Fighting Genre
EVO is all about Arcade Fighters, so we wanted to drill down into this subgenre of Fighting Games in particular. We restricted the field of Fighting Games to titles with more than 100K hours watched from July 2024 to June 2025 and then specified a subset of those games that are commonly considered to be Arcade Fighters. That includes 2D examples (Street Fighter 6) and 3D examples (Tekken 8), but not Platform Fighters or Anime Arena Fighters.
Among this sample, itโs clear that Arcade Fighters are carrying the bulk of Fighting Game viewership online. In a sample of 77 games, 40 of these were Arcade Fighters but they accounted for 71% of all Fighting Game viewership. These numbers are a little misleading though: Street Fighter 6 is primarily the reason for this overwhelming preference for Arcade Fighters. Street Fighter 6 accounted for ยพ of all Arcade Fighter viewership, with the next most popular title, Tekken 8, accounting for a further โ of this viewership. Younger franchises generally pulled in less than 5M hours watched across the year.
The Top Fighting Game Esports Events Are Multi-game Tournaments
Fighting Game pros are seriously dedicated to their craft: The FGC has a huge number of events sprinkled throughout the year to bring players and their fans together. EVO and EVO Japan hold the 1st, 3rd, and 4th positions among the top Fighting Game events by peak viewership, with EVO 2024โs Street Fighter 6 tournament hosting 377K concurrent viewers. Street Fighter 6 again reigns supreme here, being the game played in 9 out of the top 10 Fighting Game esports events by peak viewership. Other games typically bring in less than 100K concurrent viewers at their peak.
This is why multi-game tournaments are so important: Hosting multiple games at one time brings together curious fans of different franchises. Though a viewer might tune in for Street Fighter 6, they stay to check out other titles and have a chance of converting to that series. This is a highly social community with a great appreciation for detail, which means more chances for new Fighting Games to get word-of-mouth recognition. Guilty Gear – Strive- may be the best example of this, reviving the Guilty Gear franchise with small tweaks to its original formula and then amassing a growing fanbase over multiple multi-game tournaments.
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Still though, merely appearing in the same place as other established Fighting games isnโt enough for a new title to stand out. You have to find the right streamers to partner with: Streamers that are fans of not just one Fighting Game, but the entire Fighting game genre. Figure out some of the best streamers in the fighting game genre, who you should partner with, and some key tips to make the most out of your influencer marketing budget.
For all this Fighting Game streamer info, plus details on EVO Japan 2025, download our free Fighting Games Report:
