As touched upon in our FGC Roundup, sex is inappropriate but alcohol/cigarettes are perfectly fine. At least, that’s what Capcom recently decided in their new set of rules for Pro Tour Esports events.
Capcom will not allow Players to participate in any Tournament if sponsored by adult content sponsors, such as a publisher of pornographic websites, or any other sponsor Capcom deems inappropriate at its sole discretion. Players who are sponsored by alcoholic beverages, cigarettes or vaping (e-cigarette) products will not be precluded from competing in a Tournament.
This ruling affects sponsorship in the world of Esports, a dubbed emerging market that has doubled in growth over the past two years and is projected to soon surpass a billion dollars in revenue. The majority of this money comes from working with sponsors with most companies being welcomed with open arms, including brands that normally face advertising restrictions such as those that distribute alcohol and cigarettes.
Adult sponsors on the other hand have been explicitly singled out and deemed as inappropriate, leading to their complete ban from Capcom’s Pro Tour. Home of titles such as Street Fighter V, the Pro Tour is described as “the premier league destination for competitive fighting games”.
This news is majorly damaging to the popular Team YP, a group sponsored by adult website YouPorn. Under the new rules, they are not allowed to compete in any of the tournaments. Team YP took to Twitter to express their disappointment, stating:
https://twitter.com/TeamYPOfficial/status/733875442881548288
However, perhaps there is still hope. Capcom made two follow-up statements a little later in the day that have indicated that they have listened to feedback and will review the rules, promising to make an update soon. In the meantime, they have decided to allow adult sponsors to continue playing, although, without any promotion.
https://twitter.com/CapcomFighters/status/734016919779446784 https://twitter.com/CapcomFighters/status/734017171001483265
Team YP have made tireless efforts to rebrand themselves in a way that makes them SFW, with changes including abbreviating the YouPorn name to simply YP.
This news follows Team YP’s recent ban from another major Esports organization. The ESL (Electronic Sports League) informed Team YP that they will be unable to participate within their tournaments, despite the controversial team appealing to the ESL and even offering to not display the “YP” name.
