How an underdog Street Fighter 6 player beat the odds to win $1 million

12.04.2024 - 15:15 / digitaltrends.com

It didn’t take long for last year’s excellent Street Fighter 6 to take the fighting game world by storm. Capcom’s critically praised fighting game didn’t just revitalize the Street Fighter series, but reignited interest in the fighting genre as a whole. Capcom then focused on growing the competitive side of Street Fighter 6 by hosting a new entry of its tournament circuit, Capcom Cup, with a first-place prize of $1 million.

That historic prize pool was enough to awaken a fighting game community that was hungry to land a win. While many big names battled, the ultimate winner was a bit of a surprise. The million-dollar prize went to an unsponsored face that you might not recognize: Wang “UMA” Yuan-hao.

Yuan-hao is a relatively new face to the world of competitive fighters, having made his tournament debut in 2017 with Street Fighter 5. Despite lacking the decades of experience and notoriety his opponents had under their belts (as well as hailing from the underdog country of Taiwan), Yuan-hao tackled every challenge to become the Capcom Cup champion.

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His story encapsulates why the fighting game community is so special in the world of esports. Seeing someone relatively unknown show up and win a worldwide tournament is the classic tale of hard work paying off and opens the door for the next person who sets their sights on becoming a champion. I spoke to Yuan-hao about his shocking win and what it takes to become a millionaire by playing video games.

Digital Trends: Where did you start in fighting games? What made you want to take competing seriously?

Yuan-hao: I seriously started playing fighting games with Street Fighter V, which was the first competitive game that made me feel the joy of overcoming difficulties. The first time I participated in an offline event was at the TWFighter Major Street Fighter V 2016 tournament. I was only a spectator in the audience, not competing, but I felt the atmosphere was fantastic. So, I decided to compete the following year. During my first tournament, I ranked 13th. The audience cheering for me motivated me to practice even harder.

Of all the regions and countries that competed in Capcom Cup, Taiwan wasn’t one that many saw in the conversation to be the home of the winner. Did being away from the more prolific countries hold any shortcomings?

Due to the excellent online environment of Street Fighter 6, Taiwan can practice with players from Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, and other places.