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At the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, a team of Counter-Strike: Global Offensiveplayers stands behind a giant stage, going over last-minute strategies before heading up on stage to play a semifinals match inside one of the biggest arenas in New York City.
Behind them sits a row of computers for practice, $400 gaming chairs, and a table stocked with bananas, granola bars, chips, and fruit gummies.
About 200 feet away in the bowels of the Barclays Center, a handful of the top Street Fighter V players in the world sit and stand among the crowd of fans, holding their fight sticks and controllers while waiting to be called up to compete in front of a crowd on fold-out chairs that take up about one half of the converted basketball practice court. Behind them is a nearly empty Red Bull refrigerator.
On Sept. 16 and 17, the esports tournament organization ESL held two competitions under the same roof, and the two scenes could not have been more different.
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SEE ALSO:Dad of the year proves anyone can get into esportsESL One New York featured sixteen of the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensiveteams in the world, the top eight of which competed on the main stage in the Barclays Center in front of a crowd of thousands. The prize pool was $250,000.
The Brooklyn Beatdown was open to 256 Street Fighter Vplayers, ranging from local players who knew they never had a chance of making it past the earliest rounds to players who have won some of the biggest Street Fightertournaments in the world. The prize pool was $50,000.
The two competitive games exist in completely separate worlds.
Since hitting the esports scene, Counter-Strikehas consistently drawn a larger audience than Street Fighter. In recent years, CS:GOtournament viewership has far outpaced Street Fightertournament viewership on platforms like Twitch. While the english broadcast of the CS:GOELeague Major finals broke 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch, Street Fighter V's Capcom Cup english stream just a month earlier barely passed 100,000 concurrent viewers.
Popularity feeds into perception.
With so many more eyeballs on the Counter-Strikescene than the Street Fighterscene, its players are treated more like stars.
'Counter-Strike: Global Offensive' team Team Liquid walks through the arena before a match at ESL One New York.Credit: ESLBetween matches, Counter-Strikeplayers at ESL One New York stayed backstage outside of scheduled signings, for which fans lined up by the dozens and dozens to get jerseys, posters, and mousepads signed. While they were behind the stage or heading up the stage stairs to start another game, security made sure to keep fans away from the railing.
In the Street Fighter room, there was no separation between fans and pros. Legendary players like Justin Wong, Daigo Umehara, Ai "Fuudo" Keita, and Victor "Punk" Woodley sat right alongside regular attendees and even played against them in early rounds and friendly matches.
Before the Counter-Strikegrand finals on Sunday, the top eight Street Fighter Vplayers competed on the main stage but still sat in the audience between matches as Counter-Strikefans trickled in to find suitable seats before the match between Team Liquid and FaZe Clan, scheduled for 2 p.m.
As Counter-Strikeplayers stayed mostly serious during and between games, Street Fighter players joked and even shared some shenanigans while on stage.
Counter-Strikeplayers walked through the arena with fanfare as a stage announcer introduced teams. Street Fighter players were pointed at by an ESL staff member, indicating they needed to walk up to the tiny stage for their next match.
Professional Counter-Strikeis referred to as a scene.
Professional Street Fighterplayers belong to the fighting game community.
The two competitive games exist in completely separate worlds, a fact never more apparent than when they are placed under the same roof.
'Street Fighter V' players Antwan 'Alucard' Ortiz and Victor 'Punk' Woodley go toe-to-toe at Brooklyn Beatdown.Credit: ESLCounter-Strikeplayers reach a sort of mythical celebrity status thanks to their exclusivity. They're sequestered from fans like traditional sports superstars, set upon an unreachable pedestal that brings an extra level of intensity to the same competition that non-professional players take part in by the hundreds of thousands every day.
Street Fighterplayers are approachable, for the most part, and exist in the same world as the less-skilled players and fans they inspire. Lucky fans can enter open tournaments like Brooklyn Beatdown and square off against the best in the world, lose handedly, and bump fists before parting ways.
Premiere Counter-Striketournaments feel like a bigger deal. Premiere Street Fightertournaments feel more communal.
Both show their own side of esports.
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