The industry market was formed long ago by active publishers and their disciplines: Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Street Fighter, and Super Smash Bros, among others. Now the fighting game market is worth billions of dollars. Like the entire gaming industry, fighting games evolve and grow. Along with PC games, the industry continues to release new fighting games for mobile phones and home consoles. The fighting game industry not only follows trends but also sets new ones. For example, Brawlhalla, Dragon Ball Legends, and Mortal Kombat (mobile) fueled mobile gaming development.

Although up-and-coming publishers are actively trying to conquer the market, time-tested classics still have their loyal fan bases that expand yearly. The best fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, which emerged back in the nineties, are still among the highest-grossing fighting game franchises of all time.

Probably one of the first names that come to mind when one thinks about fighting games is Mortal Kombat or Tekken. But the truth is that there are a lot of fighting games that are popular among different audiences.

We can’t say that this is the best fighting games list, but here are the highest-selling and most popular fighting games that you can try:

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — over 25 million copies sold
2. Street Fighter II — over 15 million copies sold
3. Mortal Kombat X — over 12 million copies sold; the same goes for Mortal Kombat 11
4. Tekken 7 — over 9 million copies sold
5. Dragon Ball FighterZ — over 8 million copies sold

While most games in this industry are similar, they offer users different characters, thus bringing different gaming experiences. Many fighting games are popular on streaming platforms:

Most-streamed fighting games for the last week based on the Gamesight statistics:

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — 22,688 hours streamed
2. Tekken 7 — 15,254 hours streamed
3. Street Fighter V — 9,183 hours streamed

Fighting games are often underestimated as an esports discipline, as they are primarily considered party games. One of the most significant problems is that most fighting games are paid, which contradicts the standard free-to-play model in other esports disciplines. While MK and Tekken can spice up your friendly get-together, fighting games are a much broader topic and an essential sector of esports.

For example, the ongoing Street Fighter League Pro-JP 2022 tournament has a prize pool of $100,000. While the contest has not yet ended, statistics show that the championship has gained more than 2 million hours watched in a couple of days.

Although the prize pools are lower than in other well-known esports disciplines such as Dota 2, CS:GO, and LoL, fighting game tournaments are held in local and international arenas almost weekly. There are dozens of matches in Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros, and Brawlhalla. Each of these tournaments gathers tens and hundreds of thousands of viewers at their peak and hundreds of hours watched.

For people who like to play fighting games, watch them, or even just read about them, there is the term “FGC” or “fighting game community.” It would be a challenge to describe the entire fighting game community in two words. For example, according to the DashFight data, the average content reader age is 25 years old. However, the site has twelve gaming disciplines, each with its own audience.

There are individuals in their thirties who used to play Mortal Kombat when it just appeared, and from time to time, they come for news about their favourite game. Also, site visitors may turn out to be students who normally spend time with friends fighting fictional characters. The community mainly consists of men — about a fifth are women. The fighting industry appeals to different people who have different hobbies besides gaming, like music, movies, sports, and so on. One thing they do have in common is a passion for fast-paced competitive 1v1 fighting games.

While fans of the fighting game genre are loyal and easygoing, their trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Simply put, there is no room for deceptive marketing, biased attitude, or hidden ads. When it comes to collaboration with DashFight, we choose our partners wisely. We only agree to an integration if it feels native to our readers. We don’t just go with the “It’s the best product ever” promotion but work on content. High-level content is crucial for the fighting game community.

Content for Mortal Kombat 11, Tekken 7, and Street Fighter V is in demand. Thousands of fighting game fans look for guides, interviews, articles, and videos. DashFight will tell readers all they want to know about fighting game genres — the website has published more than 2,600 unique editorial articles and covered 3,320 events.

Fighting games are not just about punching, fights, defeats, or victories. They are about strategy, too. You need to know the weak points of your opponent’s character to take advantage of them. The more battles you play, the more fighters you get to know. You start learning combos and getting into their story. Overall, games bring fun to life when you become a part of the community. There are movies, clothes, and comics inspired by fighting games — so high is their popularity.

Plus, breaking into fighting games is much easier than into other esports disciplines. The setup of fighting games is simple at its core — you only choose what you want to play and what opponents you are ready to combat. As you only control your own character, the outcome depends solely on your skill. Most fighting games have huge rosters of available characters, each of them offering different experiences, so you will most definitely find one to suit you.