Seattle’s First Dragon Ball FighterZ Tournament was a Day after it’s Release
Seattle is no stranger to esports. The city hosts The International, the worlds largest DOTA 2 tournament each year. The company behind that game and another esports staple, Counter-Strike have their offices only a few miles away in Bellevue. The University of Washington has it’s own esports team that competes regularly with other schools. Even Barcraft originated in the city.
Strangely though, it’s the fighting game community that is the most active in the Emerald City. Each week players hustle into GameWorks in downtown Seattle to fight it out in all the classics. Streetfighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and a host of other fighting games are played there, often on multiple nights a week. Last week though, GameWorks helped fans welcome the newest Dragon Ball game into the competitive scene in style.
The arcade/bar has a very active esports scene and the players came out in force to compete at Dragon Ball FighterZ the day after it’s release. A doubles bracket was held with 17 teams while the singles bracket had nearly 50 players competing. The competition was fierce and people from all over the Northwest were in attendance. Not everyone was there to compete though. Systems were set up where friendly matches were happening and more than a few people were just there to watch. One of those people watching was Scott Morgan, one of the authors of the music for the FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z. The action finished up just before midnight and through some people had already left, many stayed to the end for the final fights.
The Winners
Two gamers going by the tags Pfersahw and Shaka would end up taking it all. The two-man team started off the night by winning the doubles bracket before Shaka went on to win the singles bracket, emerging as the top of 49 players. We got to talk to the two winners.
Pfershaw, a local caster, and Shaka are both experienced gamers. They explained how they’d been practicing together for the tournament the night before and it was clear that both players were excited about the game. The two winners both called it amazing and each had a slew of features they liked about the new game.
Both Pfershaw and Shaka recommended the game to new players. Pfershaw highlighted the beginner friendliness of the game and noted that all of the characters are playable. Shaka put it best saying. “If anyone wants to get into fighting games, I recommend starting with this one.”
Congratulations to both winners. You can see the tournament matches at GameWorks Twitch. You can also follow Pfershaw and Shaka on twitter. Our own Karl Smart has a great review of Dragon Ball FighterZ up so if your interested going Super Saiyan yourself then check it out. You can find out about more esports events at GameWorks on their Facebook.
