The Fighting Game Community (FGC) has reached its limit with the long-standing issues of the PlayStation 5. After being forced to use PlayStation consoles for nearly an entire generation, tournament organizers have finally decided to switch to Xbox hardware.
The PS5 has a generally poor reputation in competitive environments. Its overheating issues and additional input lag make fighting games—especially high-level matches—feel far inferior to the PC version. More seriously, at major tournaments like Evo, there have been multiple cases of USB ports burning out and cables melting, rendering joysticks or stickless controllers unusable. The most typical incident occurred during the Guilty Gear -Strive- finals at Evo Japan 2025, where player RedDitto's USB cable burned out mid-match, forcing him to borrow another player's controller and causing the organizers to reboot the console, resulting in a lengthy interruption.
Furthermore, performance issues have continued to draw criticism. Prominent players like Evo champion PunkDaGod have publicly complained about equipment problems multiple times. In 2025, he stated, "I spend a lot of time practicing, traveling, and paying to compete, only for an overheating PS5 to decide the outcome of a match. It feels like being spat in the face." Many players share this sentiment.
Some major tournaments, such as Ultimate Fighting Arena, have attempted to use PC setups, but for most organizers, this solution is impractical due to budget constraints and the technical difficulty of optimizing dozens of PCs uniformly.
Now, the regional tournament Texas Showdown in Houston, Texas, has made a key decision. The event, scheduled for April 2–4, 2027, announced that its largest category, Street Fighter 6, will switch entirely to Xbox Series X, officially dropping the PS5.
In comparison, the Xbox Series X features a more reasonable design. Its cooling vents are not located next to the USB ports, and it offers better cooling efficiency. Although the latency difference between the two consoles in Street Fighter 6 is minimal, the Xbox's design advantages prevent frequent overheating, thereby avoiding sudden performance drops and the need for reboots, while also completely eliminating the issue of USB ports burning out due to heat.
Tournament organizers stated they will provide controller adapters, allowing peripherals originally compatible only with PlayStation to be used on Xbox. According to organizer Mr Mad Gear, the adapters have no impact on latency, and some players have even reported that the feel of Street Fighter 6 on Xbox is "very close" to the PC version.