Reports are coming in that Dragon Ball FighterZ is no longer appearing at e-sports tournaments. It appears unlikely that the game will be at EVO 2019, and it’s already off the table for EVO Japan.
According to a number of tournament organizers, Dragon Ball FighterZ tournaments are no longer being hosted. It started as far back as November, when Alex Jebailey, the game director for DreamHack, announced that registration for the game was being pulled.
I regret to inform those registered for DBFZ at #DHATL18 in a few weeks that we will no longer be able to host a tournament for it. Please see my statement below that I have emailed out to those signed up through https://t.co/doletRas1E already. pic.twitter.com/zPn98HT0lB
— Jebailey DreamHack India (@CEOJebailey) November 3, 2018
When asked further and pressed for answers, Jebailey noted that he was not able to speak further about it.
I would never cancel any tournament at an event because of entry numbers. I can’t publicly speak on exact reasons.
— Jebailey DreamHack India (@CEOJebailey) November 3, 2018
It wasn’t just Dream Hack affected by this strange turn of events. Aksys Games announced that Dragon Ball FighterZ was also being dropped from the Anime Ascension tournament taking place between February 15th and February 17th in 2019.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Dragonball FighterZ will no longer be run at Anime Ascension. We’re sorry for the inconvenience/disappointment! Please stay tuned for future announcements. pic.twitter.com/lLsUxQKicx
— Aksys Games (@aksysgames) December 21, 2018
Joey “Mr Wizard” Cuellar also lamented what was taking place within the FGC regarding Dragon Ball FighterZ, putting it in jeopardy for EVO 2019.
It’s sad to see what’s happening to the DragonBall FighterZ community. It literally might be a one and done.
— Joey Cuellar (@MrWiz) December 21, 2018
The cancellations certainly had nothing to do with a lack of popularity.
A compilation graph put together covering what games were most talked about within the FGC showed that Dragon Ball FighterZ and Tekken 7 were among the top.
@EVO @MrWiz I looked through the responses on the EVO 2019 tweet and decided to see what people wanted. I compiled it into a circle graph to see what percentage of the suggestions belonged to each game. pic.twitter.com/0FDrANFCYj
— A Bro Man (@KingRobert3755) December 22, 2018
So obviously, this led a lot of people to question exactly what happened? According to e-sports consultant, Rod Breslau, this was a rights holders issue, and that the original rights holder did not want the games appearing at the tournaments.
DBFZ’s rights holders issues may lead to the DBFZ World Tour being in jeopardy for 2019 or likely less esports events overall. Unclear why Nintendo of Japan declined.
Once again poor decisions from Japan. EVO is where both games have had their highest viewership of all time.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) December 14, 2018
At least on DBFZ’s end, this is looking to be much more of a problem with Dragonball rights owner Toei and what they will allow Bandai Namco to do with DBFZ. There should be major concern for DBFZ entering 2019, esports related or not.
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) December 15, 2018
According to YouTuber Stumblebee, this could extend all the way back to the Toei Animation headquarters and that they’re blocking not just the e-sports communities from spreading the good word about Dragon Ball FighterZ through the tournament scene, but it could also have an effect on Bandai Namco and how they’re able to promote and support the game moving forward.
Right now there’s still a lot of silence on what’s going on with the game, and whether or not this is something that Bandai can get resolved with Toei. In the meantime it appears as if Dragon Ball FighterZ will no longer be appearing at major tournaments.
(Thanks for the news tip Yogensha)
