The Taylor Swift Effect Hits the Fighting Game Scene
Taylor Swift's impact on tourism is about to mess with fighting game tournaments.
The international pop princess is currently in the middle of The Eras Tour, which is taking her around the world. On November 24, Swift will be performing with Sabrina Carpenter at the Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil — and you’re probably wondering why this matters. Well, that’s the same weekend as the Battle Coliseum.
The Battle Coliseum is a major fighting game tournament held in Brazil from November 24 through November 26. The main tournaments include Guilty Gear -Strive-, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 1, The King of Fighters XV, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and more.
Aug 7, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles. Swift is ending the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sandy Hooper-USA TODAY
© Sandy Hooper-USA TODAY
Now, the FGC believes the Swift concert will have some unfortunate side effects on Battle Coliseum.
The FGC vs. Taylor Swift
T-Swift is a massive music force and whenever she comes into town, cities hike up their hotel and AirBnB rates. Not only that, but these places will get sold out fast thanks to ravenous Swift fans.
Now, the organizers believe that Battle Coliseum participants who have not yet purchased a place to stay will suffer the consequences of late booking. The prices are most likely hiked up quite high due to Swift coming around.
Some gamers pointed out that her presence caused even more issues in the past. One competitive player pointed out that a Yu-Gi-Oh! event was moved to a different date entirely due to Swift coming to town, messing up a lot of hotel reservations and flights in the process.
Other players joked that Swift did it on purpose. Maybe she lost to a fighting game pro online and has now decided to seek revenge. There’s no song by Swift that confirms this, however, so it’s most likely not true.
The fighting game community remains unique among esports in that nearly all major competition takes place in person and tournaments with dozens to hundreds to sometimes thousands of players in attendance. Despite their popularity, tournaments often struggle to generate profit so anything that could lead competitors to choose not to attend (such as a big price hike for hotels) is cause for concern.
Last year, Battle Coliseum had 530 attendees according to its page on Start.gg page. Registration for this month's event is ongoing but attendee numbers have not yet been made public.
