By Mari Hansen Between matches, a certain silence falls over a fighting game tournament hall, where thousands of people watch two people make decisions more quickly than most of us can consciously comprehend, controllers are resting on tables, and players are fixated on screens. From the outside, it appears effortless. It never is. Additionally, the effort now goes far beyond the joystick for players like SonicFox and MenaRD, two of the most renowned names in competitive fighting games. The statistics are beginning to demonstrate how much more difficult it is to succeed in the video game industry.
The late 2010s esports boom led to some truly remarkable forecasts. By 2022, Goldman Sachs predicted that revenues would have nearly tripled from 2018 levels to almost $3 billion. The arenas were packed. Celebrities were supporting teams. Michael Jordan became a member of Team Liquid’s ownership group. A Boston team cost Robert Kraft $20 million.
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| SonicFox (Dominique McLean) | |
| Real Name | Dominique McLean |
| Born | December 28, 1999 — United States |
| Games | Mortal Kombat, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Injustice 2, DNF Duel, Street Fighter 6 |
| Career Earnings (est.) | Over $700,000+ in tournament prize money across career |
| EVO Championships | Multiple EVO titles — widely considered the greatest fighting game player of their generation |
| Notable Moment | Turned down the $1M Gamers8 Street Fighter 6 Invitational in 2023, publicly citing lack of confidence — a rare display of candor in a field built on bravado |
| MenaRD (Ramón Rodríguez Pérez) | |
| Real Name | Ramón Rodríguez Pérez |
| From | Dominican Republic — one of the highest-profile fighting game competitors from the Caribbean |
| Known For | Street Fighter V, Street Fighter 6; signature Birdie player; EVO 2017 champion (Street Fighter V) |
| Cultural Significance | Represents a broader wave of Latin American players breaking into top-tier competitive fighting games, shifting the sport’s traditional geographic center |
| Industry Context | |
| Global Esports Market | Revenue projections once pointed toward $3 billion by 2022 (Goldman Sachs); actual growth has been more complicated |
| “Esports Winter” | Industry term for the post-2022 consolidation phase — layoffs, tournament closures, and investor withdrawal across multiple leagues and organizations |
| Publisher Control | Game publishers (Riot Games, Capcom, Bandai Namco) retain full legal and commercial rights over competitive play — independent player leverage remains structurally limited |
| Fighting Game Economy | Prize pools smaller than mainstream esports (League of Legends, Dota 2), yet community-run events like EVO sustain the scene with grassroots energy that bigger leagues often lack |
It turned out that the intoxicating atmosphere was at least somewhat unrelated to what the economy could really support. What transpired was not so much a collapse as it was a more subdued and somewhat disorienting period of consolidation that industry observers have begun to refer to as the “Esports Winter,” characterized by layoffs, tournament closures, and a slow withdrawal of the institutional funding that had poured in.
SonicFox, who was born Dominique McLean in 1999, had an incredible career by any standard. Numerous EVO titles, supremacy in Mortal Kombat, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Injustice, and Street Fighter 6, and a cultural influence in the fighting game community that extends well beyond win rates. In the history of competitive fighting games, there may not have been a single player who has consistently dominated as many different titles. Nevertheless, SonicFox declined an invitation to the Gamers8 $1 million Street Fighter 6 Invitational in 2023—not because of scheduling conflicts, but rather because they were open about their lack of confidence in their ability to win. In the world of competitive gaming, which depends in part on displayed confidence, such honesty is practically unheard of. It also shows how much pressure these players are under.
The trajectory of MenaRD presents a somewhat different version of the same narrative. Ramón Rodríguez Pérez, a native of the Dominican Republic, rose to prominence as one of the most prominent Latin American competitors in Street Fighter, a region that the scene’s elite had not always given much thought to. He has continued to be a reliable presence at the top levels of Street Fighter 6, and his EVO 2017 championship run is still regarded as one of the most spectacular upsets in recent tournament memory. However, consistent success in fighting games does not equate to the kind of financial stability that, for example, a top League of Legends player under contract with a franchise team might anticipate. The league infrastructure, if it exists at all, is still largely determined by what publishers permit rather than what players or independent organizers can construct. The prize pools are smaller, the sponsorships are more unstable.
It may not seem like it, but that final point is crucial. According to a 2025 academic study that looked at the legal framework of esports, publishers still have complete intellectual property control over their games, so they can decide whether or not to hold competitive events. Esports competitions are essentially licensed activities, in contrast to traditional sports, where federations and governing bodies set rules independently of team owners or equipment manufacturers.
Capcom has the power to drastically alter the Street Fighter competitive landscape. The livelihoods of contracted players have been impacted by Riot Games’ numerous league restructurings. That structural instability is the constant background noise of a career for free agents, which is about how many fighting game players work, switching between events instead of having long franchise contracts.
Watching SonicFox and MenaRD compete at events like EVO gives me the impression that fighting games have real stakes and a real community, something that the more commercialized aspects of esports have subtly lost. Because of a media rights agreement, the crowds at EVO aren’t there. They are there because they are passionate about the game, they comprehend what they are witnessing, and the players on stage are, in a significant way, their own. Although it doesn’t always pay mortgages, grassroots authenticity fosters a loyalty that billion-dollar franchise leagues have found difficult to cultivate.
As the market settles into whatever it’s becoming, it’s still unclear exactly what players like SonicFox and MenaRD’s financial futures look like. Some protection against the volatility of prize money alone is provided by streaming revenue, brand partnerships, and community support. However, these are not sources of passive income because they demand consistent performance, presence, and output. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably not playing the matches. The economics of being a great fighting game player in 2025 are truly complex.