How do we get the melee community to grow more?

[steamymartini]

I think melee should be getting bigger, but how do we spread popularity?

 

[EPsilon933]

By letting it spread the way it is. I did some analysis on EVO, Melee, Street Fighter 4, and Marvel 3. Melee's growth rate is fine

[collapse="WARNING: THIS WAS DONE BY A NOOB WHO IS A NOOB"]
I am not an analyst. This is not an expert analysis. I just did a noob analysis of the growth of competitive fighting gaming just for fun and a learning experience to measure how much the competitive scene is growing. The only tool I used was Windows Calculator




The Raw Numbers and % growth interpretations



EVO 2011 & *Pound* 5 vs EVO 2012 & Apex 2012, tournament entrants and growth rates


EVO 2011 & *Pound* 5
Melee = 243
Marvel 3 = 1,072
Street Fighter 4 = 1,456
Average = 924

EVO 2012 & Apex 2012
Melee = 318 \ +30.9%
Marvel 3 = 1,248 \ +16.4%
Street Fighter 4 = 1,520 \ +4.4%
Average = 1,029 \ +11.4%


EVO 2013 vs 2014 vs 2015 growth rates, tournament entrants and growth rates


Tournament entrants

EVO 2013
Melee = 696 \ +118.9%
Marvel 3 = 1,297 \ +3.9%
Street Fighter 4 = 1,601 \ +5.3%
Average = 1,198 \ +16.4%

EVO 2014
Melee = 970 \ +39.4%
Marvel 3 = 1,014 \ -21.8%
Street Fighter 4 = 1,979 \ +23.6%
Average = 1,321 \ +10.3%

EVO 2015
Melee = 1,869 \ +92.7%
Marvel 3 = 816 \ -19.5%
Street Fighter 4 = 2,227 \ +12.5%
Average = 1,637 \ +23.9%


2011 - 2015 Average growth rates per year

The percentages represent exponential curves of best fit growth. I can’t make a line of best fit
Melee = +70.5%
Marvel 3 = -5.3%
Street Fighter 4 = +11.5%
Average = +25.6%



Tournament Peak Viewer counts and growth rates


EVO 2013
Melee = 134,000
Marvel 3 = 144,848
Street Fighter 4 = 125,000
Average = 134,616

EVO 2014
Melee = 137,800 \ +2.8%
Marvel 3 = 144,848 \ +3.2%
Street Fighter 4 = 130,396 \ +4.3%
Average = 139,222 \ +3.9%

EVO 2015
Melee = 211,393 \ +53.4%
Marvel 3 = 177,057 \ +18.5%
Street Fighter 4 = 248,864 \ +90.7%
Average = 216,864 \ +55.8%


SRKEVO1's twitch follower & viewer growth rates

EVO 2014
Gained followers | gained channel views
12,750 | 1,080,000
11,170 | 1,900,000
10,770 | 2,240,000
Total = 34,690 | 5,220,000

EVO 2015
Gained followers | gained channel views
July 17 = 15,304 | 949,025
July 18 = 13,284 | 1,026,778
July 19 = 15,698 | 1,739,324
Total = 44,286 | 3,715,127

EVO 2014 vs EVO 2015
34,690 vs 44,286 (+27.7%)
5,220,000 vs 3,715,127 (-28.8%)


[collapse="EVEN WORSE WRITTEN INTERPRETATION WRITTEN FOR THE GENERAL GAMING AUDIENCE"]
Melee is growing as a competitive game at an absurdly fast rate among fighting games. On average, every year, tournament attendance increases at its largest yearly event by 70.5%. The other biggest FG (Fighting game), while still ahead, won’t be in the lead for another year. If both games follow the expontential curve of best fit perfectly, Melee at EVO should reach 3,187 entrants and Street Fighter 5 would reach 2,797. But because this wasn’t calculated from an experiment, there are loads of confounding variables affecting everything. Melee beginning to be included at EVO in 2013, The Melee documentary being released, and Smash 4’s release have probably been the biggest boosts to the scene’s tournament going popularity. Street Fighter’s confounding variables are Ultra Street Fighter 4’s release and Street Fighter 5’s announcement which help that game attract new players. Marvel 3’s main confounding variable is Capcom’s contract ending with Marvel, preventing them from selling more copies of the game. Ever since it ended, December 2013, its popularity saw a significant decline. If it follows the exponential curve perfectly, it should reach 773 entrants at EVO next year. Don’t consider my predictions very reliable because I’m a total noob at analysis and this was just for fun

I wanted to include as much data as I could for this analysis and I wasn’t sure which Melee tournaments to consider for the years 2011 and 2012. I could have used GENESIS 2’s and MELEE-FC Legacy’s numbers since they’re both Summer nationals like EVO. I ended up choosing *Pound* 5’s and Apex 2012’s tournament entry numbers since they were the biggest of their years. Apex is still an active tournament series that happens during Q1 of every year. Changes in season’s might affect who’s able/unable to go to these events

Last year, EVO was watched by more individual viewers, but more viewers followed it this year. Peak viewership was also higher for the 3 main FGs, as well as for BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma / Guilty Gear Xrd –SIGN- and Killer Instinct 3 / Mortal Kombat X, which suggest a lot more viewer retention. I don’t have the official channel analyses nor data to measure exactly what the average retention was in terms of minutes watched per viewer

Twitch emailed me a message about 4 esports events happening that weekend. This might explain some of the lower view count yet higher retention. Players who prefer CSGO (Counter Strike Global Offensive), SC2 (Starcraft 2), or HOTS (Heroes Of The Storm) could have clicked any of those 3 and never returned to the email to also check out EVO. It filtered out the less interested viewers of the FG genre. I’m not certain about what explains why viewers stayed longer and caused more of them to follow SRKEVO1. It could be the influx of new games that refreshed a lot of FG fans' interest in the series/genre and (re)introduced them to competitive gaming. Mortal Kombat X and Smash 4 launched and Street Fighter 5 was announced less than a Year before EVO this year. Going from EVO 2013 – 2014, average main game peak viewership only increased by 3.9% on average. The only major release/announcement between EVO 2013 and 2014 was Ultra Street Fighter 4’s launch. Game upgrades don’t generate as much hype as entirely new games. A lot of players even rant online against this practice. The growth explanation is just an untested/uneducated theory

I’m not sure if/when Melee or Street Fighter can reach esports status. Right now, I don’t think it can reach the status of LOL, DOTA2, CSGO, nor COD. Those games have everything going for them right now and the numbers are absurdly good. Just look at the current king, LOL. That game has 27,000,000 players online daily and 67,000,000 online monthly. Throughout Smash’s history, it has only sold 30,000,000 copies. Nowhere close to every buyer is as active as they are. But with Melee’s growth, it might reach a tier below that, maybe. Its growth hasn’t hit any walls yet so it’s difficult to predict where its popularity will peak. Street Fighter is also likely to keep growing, just nowhere near as quickly. Predicting big future changes aren’t easy
[/collapse]
These numbers were calculated and pulled from from
http://socialblade.com/twitch/user/srkevo1
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Apex_2013
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Apex_2014
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Apex_2015
http://smashboards.com/threads/official-genesis-2-results-thread.307610/
http://smashboards.com/threads/melee-fc-legacy-results.326650/
http://smashboards.com/threads/evo-historical-entry-counts.408575/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2013/...rvel-vs-capcom-3-tournament-smash-had-134000/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/...15s-main-stage-during-grand-finals-collected/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/...ost-watched-evo-2014-ranking-viewership-game/
http://shoryuken.com/2014/07/01/evo...r-iv-leads-the-pack-with-nearly-2000-players/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/...ut-water-ceo-2015-see-numbers-all-games-here/
http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2014/...2014-check-out-entrance-numbers-years-lineup/
http://testyourmight.com/threads/ceo-final-pre-registration-numbers-for-each-game.34729/
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/01/29/league-of-legends-now-has-27-million-players-daily
I think I added every link. I think[collapse="Raw notes not tailored for readable format"]
2013 vs 2014 vs 2015, viewers & entrants by game(s)


Game
2013 \ 2014 \ 2015 (Peak online viewer count)
2013 \ 2014 \ 2015 (Tournament entrants)

Super Smash Brothers Melee
134,000 \ 137,800 \ 211,393
696 \ 970 \ 1,869

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
144,848 \ 149,470 \ 177,057
1,297 \ 1,014 \ 816

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v2012 / Ultra Street Fighter 4
125,000 \ 130,396 \ 248,663
1,601 \ 1,979 \ 2,227

Average for the main games
134,616 \ 139,222 \ 216,864
1,198 \ 1,321 \ 1,637

Average
? vs 117,409 vs 191,797
922 vs 962 vs 1408


Growth rates

Game / Game / Game
viewership increase, 2013 vs 2014, 2014 vs 2015, 2013 vs 2015
Participant increase, 2013 vs 2014, 2014 vs 2015, 2013 vs 2015

The King Of Fighters 13 / BlazeBlue Chrono Phantasma / Guilty Gear Xrd –SIGN-
?%, +62.4%, ?%
+17.3%, +90.6%, +123.6%

Injustice Gods Among Us / Killer Instinct 3 / Mortal Kombat X
?%, +115.3%, ?%
-41.9%, +243.8%, +99.7%

Super Smash Brothers Melee
+2.8%, +53.4%, +57.8%
+39.4%, +92.7%, +168.5%

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
+3.2%, +18.5%, +22.2%
-21.8%, -19.5%, -37.1%

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v2012 / Ultra Street Fighter 4
+4.3%, +90.7%, +98.8%
+23.6%, +12.5%, +39.1%

Average
+?%, +63.4%, +?%
+4.3%, +84.02%, +52.7%

Average for the 3 static games
+3.9%, +55.8%, +61.1%
+10.3%, +23.9%, +36.6%



SRKEVO1's twitch follower & viewer growth rates


http://www.twitch.tv/SRKEVO1


EVO 2013
No data is publicly available for July 2013 on Socialblade

EVO 2014
Gained followers | gained channel views
12,750 | 1,080,000
11,170 | 1,900,000
10,770 | 2,240,000
Total = 34,690 | 5,220,000

EVO 2015
Gained followers | gained channel views
July 17 = 15,304 | 949,025
July 18 = 13,284 | 1,026,778
July 19 = 15,698 | 1,739,324
Total = 44,286 | 3,715,127

EVO 2014 vs EVO 2015
34,690 vs 44,286 (+27.7%)
5,220,000 vs 3,715,127 (-28.8%)


Other esports that happened on Twitch during EVO 2015
DreamHack Valencia 2015
IEM Shenzhen
Heroes of the Storm North America July Open
(EVO 2015 was at the top of the list)
(EVO also had its own email sent to twitch users)

Other esports that happened on Twitch during EVO 2014 and 2013
I don't even know of a good way to search for this information. I might be too tired to



EVO 2011 vs 2012


Game / Game
Entrants

[EVO 2011 didn't have a 6th game on day 3 stream] / Street Fighter X Tekken
? vs 448 teams (896 entrants)

BlazBlue Continuum Shift 2 / The King Of Fighters 13
208 vs 1,072

Tekken 6 / Soul Calibur 5
724 vs 416

Mortal Kombat 9
512 vs 304

Marvel Vs Capcom 3 / Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
1,072 vs 1,248

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition / Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v2012
1,456 vs 1,520



Smash's Summer tournaments in 2011 & 2012 (GENESIS 2 & MELEE-FC Legacy)

Super Smash Brothers Melee
228 vs 146

Super Smash Brothers Brawl
197 vs 4

Smash 64
22 vs 18

Project M
? vs 106


Smash's Winter tournaments in 2011 & 2012 (*Pound* 5 & Apex 2012)

Super Smash Brothers Melee
243 vs 318

Super Smash Brothers Brawl
151 vs 400

Smash 64
? vs 64

Apex has never been a big event for the FGC (yet. These numbers might be worth

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition v2012
? vs 96

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
? vs 128



Apex 2013 vs 2014 vs 2015

Super Smash Brothers Melee
336 vs 629 vs 1037

Super Smash Brothers Brawl
338 vs 370 vs 176

Super Smash Brothers 4 Wii U
? vs ? vs 837

Smash 64
96 vs 157 vs 188

Project M
? vs 382 vs ?

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition version 2012 / Ultra Street Fighter 4
? vs 100 vs 139

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
? vs 85 vs 51


CEO 2013 vs 2014 vs 2015

Super Smash Bros Melee
? vs 262 vs 466

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition version 2012 / Ultra Street Fighter 4
225 vs 391 vs 375

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
243 vs 236 vs 117

Super Smash Brothers 4 Wii U
vs ? vs ? vs 512

Project M
? vs 255 vs ?






It might be worth mentioning that Smash 4 Wii U pulled in 1926 entrants. It wasn't streamed on day 3, which is why it was discarded from the main analysis. It's too big of a number to ignore[/collapse]
[/collapse]

If you really must make it grow faster, share stream links online to friends to get them interested in the game. Invite those interested to go to tournaments. Don't worry about making a big effect unless you're a big player like VGBC. Just do what you can to spread the word to your friends

 

[Dolla Pills]

We can convince Nintendo to make Melee HD

 

[EarthCrash]

Continue the same tactics as we have been doing before.

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

I think melee should be getting bigger, but how do we spread popularity?

I don't think you understand how much our community is growing. We're growing exponentially, and I love it. There's no issue with growth atm. Though telling people to get an SB account, or having people make scenes would be a great start.

 

[Dolla Pills]

I don't think you understand how much our community is growing. We're growing exponentially, and I love it. There's no issue with growth atm. Though telling people to get an SB account, or having people make scenes would be a great start.

He could be looking at it from a more esports, money perspective rather than player count and interest in the scene. Even though we have much bigger prize pots now than ever (pretty much) we still fall short of other, better endorsed games.

 

[Plunder]

We could have a bake sale

 

[EPsilon933]

He could be looking at it from a more esports, money perspective rather than player count and interest in the scene

I think melee should be getting bigger, but how do we spread popularity?

Popularity seems to be more about interest than money

Even though we have much bigger prize pots now than ever (pretty much) we still fall short of other, better endorsed games.

So far, here are the biggest Melee tournament payouts http://www.esportsearnings.com/games/204-super-smash-bros-melee . Just dropping information


Also, look at a DOTA2 tournament's prize pool that's happening this week; $18,082,380. That game has the help of DLC that its developer sells, part of which goes to funding big tournaments. A few other games do this too

25% of the proceeds of all Compendium sales go directly to The International prize pool.

I don't think Melee will be able to reach these numbers in 5-10 years. Nintendo isn't nearly as serious about esports as some other developers are, nor is Smash nearly as popular, especially a 14 year old one that has been out of print for like 10 years

 

[r00nz]

In order for the community to be truly big it needs a stable online play. No game can be big without a competitive online scene.

 

[Plunder]

In order for the community to be truly big it needs a stable online play. No game can be big without a competitive online scene.

nope.mpg

C:\\SmashBros\Melee\alreadyisbig.zip

#14yearsstillgoingstrongerthanever&notofficiallyonline

 

[r00nz]

Melee is certainly bigger but it's not nearly close to being BIG, such as games like LoL, dota, even street fighter. Just look at the tournament prize pools. If it had competitive online feature it would have way more exposure and appeal to general public.

 

[MEnKIRBZ]

nope.mpg

C:\\SmashBros\Melee\alreadyisbig.zip

#14yearsstillgoingstrongerthanever&notofficiallyonline

200000 ppl watched smash at evo, over 30 million watched LoL. Big is an overstatement.

 

[Plunder]

200000 ppl watched smash at evo, over 30 million watched LoL. Big is an overstatement.

14 years old, limited production

not a PC game (easy sponsors, downloads, and expansion)

not a usual traditional strategy or turn based mega eSports genre game


in the FGC world Melee is doing insane numbers, add in how old it is.....HOLY CANOLI. Let's not wear out our welcome by not appreciating how amazing we have it right now.

You can't expect a fighting game to reach other genre's levels of viewership. It's not there yet, perhaps in time the genre will be.

It's like comparing Soccer here in America with Soccer everywhere else in the world. You can't make people like something, they gravitate to it.

 

[EPsilon933]

Melee is certainly bigger but it's not nearly close to being BIG, such as games like LoL, dota, even street fighter

No. Reread post #2. Melee is ready to surpass Street Fighter's popularity. Our scene is growing too much faster than that game is for it to keep a lead longer than a year or 2. Even Smash 4 brought more tournament attendants at its 1st EVO event than all but 2 SF4 EVOs so far

Just look at the tournament prize pools

What's so important about prize pools?

If it had competitive online feature it would have way more exposure and appeal to general public.

The general public likes playing games casually. They don't want a competitive online feature. At most, they'd just want online. Smash 4 can feed them that need until they want to upgrade to Melee. From there, they'll have to upgrade to fests and tournaments. Also, Smash Brothers is by far the easiest fighting game to learn how to play. Like every gamer knows of it and knows how to play it. It's a mash up of Nintendo characters? What gamer wouldn't want a game of them beating the crap out of each other?

Also, EVO 2015 reached 18,854,340 viewers on Twitch. That's pretty close to 28,000,000 viewers from LOL's championship last year http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/...-releases-record-breaking-viewership-numbers/

 

[r00nz]

No. Reread post #2. Melee is ready to surpass Street Fighter's popularity. Our scene is growing too much faster than that game is for it to keep a lead longer than a year or 2. Even Smash 4 brought more tournament attendants at its 1st EVO event than all but 2 SF4 EVOs so farWhat's so important about prize pools?The general public likes playing games casually. They don't want a competitive online feature. At most, they'd just want online. Smash 4 can feed them that need until they want to upgrade to Melee. From there, they'll have to upgrade to fests and tournaments. Also, Smash Brothers is by far the easiest fighting game to learn how to play. Like every gamer knows of it and knows how to play it. It's a mash up of Nintendo characters? What gamer wouldn't want a game of them beating the crap out of each other?

Also, EVO 2015 reached 18,854,340 viewers on Twitch. That's pretty close to 28,000,000 viewers from LOL's championship last year http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/...-releases-record-breaking-viewership-numbers/

Evo is not exclusively for Melee. 90% of those viewers tune in to watch evo because it is sort of a celebration for fighting games, a Super Bowl you could say. If you compare a stand alone melee tournament to a stand alone SF tourney, the SF certainly has more viewers.

I'm confused of your stance. The OP asked how melee could get bigger and you are saying that it doesn't need to do to anything? I just don't see how anyone could argue that a game doesn't need a stable online platform to get big in this day and age. If melee had a competitive online scene and cut out the need for outdated POS crt TVs, we will see the game grow much bigger, with bigger prizes.

 

[EPsilon933]

Evo is not exclusively for Melee. 90% of those viewers tune in to watch evo because it is sort of a celebration for fighting games, a Super Bowl you could say.

Source for your 90% statistic please?

If you compare a stand alone melee tournament to a stand alone SF tourney, the SF certainly has more viewers.

There's almost never been such a thing as a stand alone Street Fighter tournament outside of a local event. FGC tournaments are almost always hosted under the same event, especially if they're big tournaments hosted. Melee tournaments also frequently have Project M hosted along side them. Source for your claim please?

I'll give you a few quick numbers I can find
http://socialblade.com/twitch/user/vgbootcamp
http://socialblade.com/twitch/user/teamsp00ky
The biggest Smash streamer has 170,010 followers and the biggest FGC streamer has 147,425 followers. This suggests that Smash could be more popular to watch than FGC games, including Street Fighter. This is just an easy, specific way to quickly measure popularity by its peak numbers. Can you provide me a more accurate measurement to confirm or deny my theory?

I'm confused of your stance. The OP asked how melee could get bigger and you are saying that it doesn't need to do to anything?

I'm saying that what Melee's currently doing is already phenomenally well. We don't have to worry about anything. All we have to do is continue doing what we're doing right now and the trend will continue. Also, you read my noob analysis, right?

I just don't see how anyone could argue that a game doesn't need a stable online platform to get big in this day and age. If melee had a competitive online scene and cut out the need for outdated POS crt TVs, we will see the game grow much bigger, with bigger prizes.

Melee has had a tournament scene for 13 years so far. This evidence suggests that games don't always need online play to stay popular (for a long time). It's the 2nd or 3rd biggest competitive fighting game being played right now. How many currently played competitive fighting games are there that have online play that aren't as popular as Melee? Maybe your statement might be right if you're referring to new games, but Melee isn't a new game, so that can't apply

The good thing about the CRT requirement is that they're cheap if you're willing to go to a thrift store and they have no lag. No lag makes playing games feel better. Not having online play isn't as big of a cost as you think it is. Melee is popularly played enough that if someone talks to any of their gamer friends, they might find someone who'll enjoy playing it. It also encourages them to go to tournaments if they want to play the game seriously more. This works best in denser communities. In low population density areas, it can be a problem. There's at least an alternative of online streams to feed Melee players' needs online

 

[Plunder]

r00nz to be honest man all of your arguments are either fantasy facts or they are obsolete points that have yet to cause an issue in the past 14 YEARS this game has been out.

 

[r00nz]

Source for your 90% statistic please?



There's almost never been such a thing as a stand alone Street Fighter tournament outside of a local event. FGC tournaments are almost always hosted under the same event, especially if they're big tournaments hosted. Melee tournaments also frequently have Project M hosted along side them. Source for your claim please?

I'll give you a few quick numbers I can find
http://socialblade.com/twitch/user/vgbootcamp
http://socialblade.com/twitch/user/teamsp00ky
The biggest Smash streamer has 170,010 followers and the biggest FGC streamer has 147,425 followers. This suggests that Smash could be more popular to watch than FGC games, including Street Fighter. This is just an easy, specific way to quickly measure popularity by its peak numbers. Can you provide me a more accurate measurement to confirm or deny my theory?



I'm saying that what Melee's currently doing is already phenomenally well. We don't have to worry about anything. All we have to do is continue doing what we're doing right now and the trend will continue. Also, you read my noob analysis, right?



Melee has had a tournament scene for 13 years so far. This evidence suggests that games don't always need online play to stay popular (for a long time). It's the 2nd or 3rd biggest competitive fighting game being played right now. How many currently played competitive fighting games are there that have online play that aren't as popular as Melee? Maybe your statement might be right if you're referring to new games, but Melee isn't a new game, so that can't apply

The good thing about the CRT requirement is that they're cheap if you're willing to go to a thrift store and they have no lag. No lag makes playing games feel better. Not having online play isn't as big of a cost as you think it is. Melee is popularly played enough that if someone talks to any of their gamer friends, they might find someone who'll enjoy playing it. It also encourages them to go to tournaments if they want to play the game seriously more. This works best in denser communities. In low population density areas, it can be a problem. There's at least an alternative of online streams to feed Melee players' needs online

That number was thrown out there as a reflection of actual melee players in my area, which I could count on 1 hand.

The OP doesn't state that he is worried about melee player base, rather how we could make it even bigger.

The biggest smash streamer has 170,000 followers, yet I don't see any melee streamer with more than 1-2k viewers (shout outs to mango) so you can't use that as a way suggest melee is more popular than any other FG lol. On average, SF and even sm4sh have more twitch viewers than melee by a considerable margin.

Once again this is not a question of what we HAVE to do but what we CAN do.

The crt TV may be cheaper but it is not more convienent. Not many teenagers are willing to tell their parents to take them to goodwill so they could buy a blocky ugly TV that has no use other than playing melee, especially if they're just casual players. :/

 

[EPsilon933]

That number was thrown out there as a reflection of actual melee players in my area, which I could count on 1 hand.

That number is so small. It has no statistical significance. It's filled with the confounding variable of everyone only being in your area. There are a lot of areas out there that you aren't considering

The OP doesn't state that he is worried about melee player base, rather how we could make it even bigger.

It's difficult to interpret emotion from only 2 sentences. Maybe I was wrong? He never posted again so there's almost nothing to guess from

The biggest smash streamer has 170,000 followers, yet I don't see any melee streamer with more than 1-2k viewers (shout outs to mango) so you can't use that as a way suggest melee is more popular than any other FG lol

This suggests that Smash could be more popular to watch than FGC games, including Street Fighter

I said Smash, I didn't specify Melee. Those channels stream more than just Melee and Street Fighter, respectively. It has confounding variables. I also didn't specify Melee

On average, SF and even sm4sh have more twitch viewers than melee by a considerable margin.

Sources and numbers behind claims please

Once again this is not a question of what we HAVE to do but what we CAN do.

I think melee should be getting bigger, but how do we spread popularity?

Maybe I'm extrapolating, but does the word "should" suggest that it has to spread?

The crt TV may be cheaper but it is not more convenient. Not many teenagers are willing to tell their parents to take them to goodwill so they could buy a blocky ugly TV that has no use other than playing melee, especially if they're just casual players. :/

Parents are probably less willing to drop, or let their sons drop, $200 - $300 on a fancy monitor. Buying from thrift stores would teach their sons a way of saving money. What parent wouldn't want that?

Smash is (in)famous for using CRTs. I'm pretty sure that most gamers who've seen competitive Melee, Smash64, Brawl, or Project M know about this. Casual players have much higher tolerances for lag. They'll be fine on HDTVs until they're ready to go competitive