Photo credit: Dean Ben-Arye for Celtic Throwdown
Irish fighting game community (FGC) event company Celtic Throwdown is shutting down following its most recent event in October 2022.
Celtic Throwdown is a competitive gaming events company that hosts multiple tournaments throughout Ireland, including the self-titled annual event in Dublin, Ireland, as well as the more regular AsOne Arena tournaments.
Celtic Throwdown covered fighting games including Street Fighter, DBZ, King of Fighters, GranBlue, Tekken, Soul Calibur and more.
Organisers Aj and Doom made the announcement earlier this month, saying: “For the past decade, AsOne has tried to push the Irish fighting game scene to new levels, acquire international recognition and have some fun along the way.
“For now, we’re hanging up our arcade sticks and controllers. This includes AsOne Arena and Celtic Throwdown. It’s been a labour of love, a world of stress, effort and joy, but it is time for us to explore new ventures.”
Organisers also spoke about how proud they’ve been with the events and thanked their followers.
The community was sad to see the event go, with many posting thank you and farewell messages to Celtic Throwdown on Twitter, and applauding them for their hard work over the years.
‘Heartbroken’ Celtic Throwdown co-founder posts follow-up statement
A few days after the initial announcement was made, Celtic Throwdown co-founder Doom posted another statement outlining his feelings and the reasoning behind the closure.
“I’m heartbroken over it ending, but it’s time for a break,” Doom said. “Every year there was stress over whether CT would break even, would we get on the world tours, would the internet hold up on the day: a million worries that’d grow all year until it was relieved in September. The infrastructure isn’t really there in Europe to relieve this stress, and this year it was really time.
“To be clear, Aaron and I are still good friends and we’ve been working together on some project or other since we were 18, from college conventions to music to CT, so I doubt this is the last one.
“I’m still going to attend tournaments, and I want people to know if they want my opinion or advice on anything to reach out to me, I intend to be as useful as possible if people want me for that. Also, I’d be open to working on FG or gaming projects, just not running them. So feel free to ask.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved in the scene. I’ve been thinking about it ever since the news dropped. I’ve been recording tournaments since 2009. It’s been a huge part of my life.”
Doom Celtic Throwdown co-founder
“There’s a whole generation of player that doesn’t remember when I’d travel around Ireland every weekend. I’ve attended so many tournaments I can’t even remember which counties I’ve played in!
“There was a time I was a regular top eight competitor in Street Fighter, and I’m probably still technically the person who has commentated the most tournaments in Irish esports altogether.
“I’ll keep those happy times close to my heart forever. I’ve so many friends over the years from it. Thanks for all the fish. See you all soon!”
Further recommended reading: Ireland’s biggest video game tournament is gone: here’s why that matters
Related article: Q&A with the Irish Challenger League about CSGO esports in Ireland
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
