Mike Ross’s Address to the FGC

Mike Ross’s Address to the FGC
Date Published: June 12, 2017

Earlier this week Mike Ross—one of the hosts of Excellent Adventures was recently featured in a video uploaded to CrossCounterTV, a YouTube channel he makes frequent appearances on. The video was a tale of two narratives, and its first part is one I believe covers a topic that should be taken a closer look at.

Mike Ross's Address to the FGC WP 01 — Mike Ross addressing why he has been away from social media.

Mike Ross, known for being a longtime fighting game competitor, commentator, and all-around contributor to the fighting game community, has recently taken an unexpected hiatus from social media which consequently, led the FGC to wonder why?

In the video, Mike Ross immediately addressed his reasoning for his hiatus, putting most of the blame on Esports. Mike noted that he is “not really happy with the direction the industry is going.” He also goes on saying that “Esports is taking the integrity out of competition.” As well as how “Esports has allowed ‘big money’… to turn around and make a buck.” He then caps it off with a perceived ‘sign-off.’

The first part of the video seemed to be a genuine address to the FGC and fans of Mike about what he really feels is taking part in the modern-day partnership of Esports and fighting games. The second part of the video, somewhat made fun of the genuine moment, and was spun into a merchandise advertisement.

Mike Ross's Address to the FGC WP 02 — ‘Futuretecks’ telling Mike Ross about Esports by showing him his T-shirt.

What is truly unfortunate, is that the comedic second half of the video took away from what were sincere concerns and undermined the subjective points Mike made. However, despite Ryan Gutierrez—who is better known as ‘gootecks’, coming in at the end of Mike’s apparent send-off, I personally am inclined to believe that Mike actually meant what he said, but perhaps had to spin it off as comedy for public relations’ sake, as Excellent Adventures does feature a heavy dose of Capcom’s Street Fighter V, and Mike has worked for the Esports side of the FGC in the past.

Mike Ross's Address to the FGC WP 03 — The marketed T-shirt Mike Ross and gootecks were advertising.

In an attempt to break it down, it seems that Mike was addressing the fact of how the behavior and culture of the fighting game community has changed post the arrival of heavy-hitting sponsors and Esports marketing. As well as acknowledging that there has been casualties along the way with the ‘little guys’ getting pushed out by ‘big business.’

However, the biggest reason why I feel Mike’s address was genuine was because his hiatus had to derive from something, and while it’s possible, I find it highly unlikely that his thoughts on the current state of the FGC were fabricated in order to just sell a T-shirt.

Lastly, it’s a bit saddening that very little of the community has taken the time to acknowledge the possibility that Mike was being serious and let him know what he was saying was true. It’s no secret that the FGC and its Esports side needs to see a change with regards of how events are run, and which people should be involved.

Mike Ross and ‘gootecks’ are two of the very few figures who have a substantial audience that can cause change within the fighting game community. There was an opportunity to bring about a significant change within the FGC, however, it seemed that opportunity was lost when the entire thing was passed on as a joke.