While the global fighting game community focuses on Japan, North America, and Korea, something quietly excellent has been happening in Oceania. The Street Fighter 6 competitive scene in Australia is arguably the strongest it’s been for any fighting game in the region’s history.

And outside of the local community, almost nobody is paying attention.

The numbers

Weekly Street Fighter 6 tournaments in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane are drawing consistent numbers. Melbourne’s Wednesday night bracket regularly pulls 40 to 60 entrants. Sydney’s Friday night event is slightly smaller but equally competitive. Brisbane and Perth both run monthly events that draw players from across their respective states.

These numbers might seem small by international standards, but for Australian fighting games, they represent significant growth. Previous Street Fighter titles struggled to maintain weekly events with more than 20 entrants outside of major tournaments. SF6 has roughly doubled the active competitive community.

Why SF6 specifically

Several factors are driving the growth:

The game is good. This sounds obvious, but it matters. Street Fighter V was divisive, and the Oceanic community shrank during its lifecycle. SF6’s Drive System, diverse roster, and strong online netcode brought lapsed players back and attracted new ones.

The netcode works. This is the single biggest factor. Previous Street Fighter titles had netcode that made online play between Australian cities — let alone between countries — a frustrating experience. SF6 uses rollback netcode that makes Sydney-to-Melbourne matches feel nearly identical to local play. This means players can practice seriously online, which sustains engagement between events.

Modern controls lowered the barrier. SF6’s Modern control scheme lets new players execute special moves and combos without complex inputs. This brought in players who were interested in fighting games but intimidated by the execution barrier. Some of them have since transitioned to Classic controls. Others compete successfully on Modern. Either way, the community grew.

World Tour mode as an onramp. The single-player World Tour mode in SF6 taught fundamentals — spacing, timing, resource management — in a way that previous tutorials never achieved. Players who started in World Tour developed enough understanding to try competitive play.

The players to watch

The Oceanic SF6 scene has produced several players who are competitive internationally:

“Carnage” (Melbourne): Arguably the best SF6 player in Australia. His Marisa is technically precise and terrifyingly aggressive. He’s attended two Capcom Pro Tour events and placed well enough to attract international attention.

“Sol” (Sydney): A Ken player whose neutral game is among the best in the region. Her ability to control space and convert stray hits into massive damage makes her a consistent tournament threat.

“Rumble” (Brisbane): A specialist in lesser-played characters — currently running Lily with a style that confuses opponents who’ve never seen the matchup at a high level. The epitome of character specialist making a niche pick work.

“Trace” (Perth): Competing from Perth means dealing with latency disadvantage in most online events, which makes Trace’s consistent top-eight placements even more impressive. A Jamie player with creativity that doesn’t always translate into wins but always makes for entertaining matches.

The community infrastructure

What impresses me most about the Oceanic SF6 scene isn’t the top players — it’s the community infrastructure.

Local tournament organisers have professionalised significantly. Events have proper brackets, stream setups, and commentary. The production quality of Melbourne’s weekly tournament stream rivals some small international events.

The community Discord servers are active and welcoming. New players can ask questions, find practice partners, and get character-specific advice from experienced competitors. This is crucial for growth — a welcoming community retains newcomers better than a hostile one drives them away.

Coaching has emerged as a thing. Several high-level players offer paid coaching sessions, and the demand is strong enough that they’re consistently booked. This is new for the Australian fighting game scene and indicates that players are taking competitive development seriously.

What’s needed

More international opportunities. Oceanic players need more chances to compete against international competition. The Capcom Pro Tour includes Oceanic events, but the pathway from regional tournament to global competition is narrow. More qualifier spots or a dedicated Oceanic premier event would help.

Better coverage. The Australian fighting game scene gets almost no coverage outside of its own community channels. Gaming media — including outlets like this one, honestly — needs to do a better job of highlighting what’s happening.

Sponsor interest. The competitive community is large enough and consistent enough to attract modest sponsorship. Fighting game players with regular content streams and tournament attendance are viable sponsorship targets for peripheral and gaming chair brands.

The scene is healthy. The game is excellent. The community is welcoming. All it needs now is for the rest of the world to notice.