This is issue #4 of thegametwok newsletter, where I share Street Fighter V stats and findings.
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The Intel World Open wrapped up its closed qualifying round, and I learned a lot from the 25 events.
In an insane move, I charted every round of every match played from each of the 25 events in a span of 48 hours during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It was as mentally exhausting as it sounds. The positive is that there is so much to be dissected from the data that was collected, and I’ll be going over the data in the next few issues.
After the regional finals are concluded, I’ll be adding that data to what I collected and making even more observations here, so stay tuned.
The total amount of rounds tracked was 2,519 which is mind-blowing.
Round time
I had no guesses on round time going into this but a lot of people like to make note of pace of play because it’s a small factor used in arguments of whether series can be expanded to 5 games or even 7 games.
The average round time was 48.8 seconds.
Here’s how it lined up per region:
The reason the rounds played are all over the place is because some regions had 4-player brackets and others had 8-player brackets.
Of the 4-player brackets, France had the fastest pace and the United Kingdom had the slowest.
Of the 8-player brackets, South America had the fastest pace, the U.S. West had the slowest.
In the Capcom Pro Tour, most events are clustered toward the median with the outliers being way far away. The average was 48.8 and 4 events were within 1 second of that total. Each event was distinct.
As for the players, more players were faster than the 48.8 mark than slower. Congratulations to Nasty Nas of France for taking home the Fastest Title Award at 36.7 seconds. The Slowest Title Award goes to Somniac from Australia at 63.8 seconds.
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The 48.8 second average is notable in part that the average round time in Capcom Pro Tour Top 8 matches this year is 50.3 seconds. The stakes are high in both events: $250,000 is on the line in the Olympics, and the closed qualifier puts the players one step closer to that mark. The winners of every CPT event receive a cash prize and get to go to Capcom Cup, where an absurd amount of money will be on the line there.
If we look at only the champions of the 25 events …
Something that has consistently trended over the years, more event winners will stay on the faster end of the average time. Eighteen of the 25 winners played on an average faster than 48.8 seconds.
Taking a timeout
In an earlier issue I talked about going back to character select following a loss and whether it’s worth it.
The numbers of the Intel World Open: players who lose a game and …
go back to character select: 28-46 in the next game (37.8 percent)
kept playing: 299-383 in the next game (43.8 percent)
These two base percentages show it’s probably not worth it to take that timeout. However, 52 players account for those 74 games, and nobody did it more than three times.
Only three players won two games: Bravery123 (2-0), Requiem of Fear (2-0) and Punk (2-1). From there, it’s spotty with 25 of the 52 players winning a game. So again, when the numbers are split to an individual level then it becomes tough to really say that it’s not worth it.
I do want to mention the timing of going back to character select following a loss, because a player will get 2 opportunities.
Looking at a loss that sends a player to X-2, one game away from a defeat, players who …
go back to character select: 18-26 in the next game (40.9 percent)
kept playing: 108-178 in the next game (37.8 percent)
Although not by a wide margin and not even above 50, the percentages now favor taking the timeout when a player is on the brink of a loss. But even here, 41 players account for those 44 games.
Thanks for these great insights. Wish I had heard of this sooner!
Wait, Dhalsim had the shortest rounds? Rush down 'sim!