Sport various fighting games Month played June Number of tournaments 1 annually | Location Orlando, Florida Established 2010 | |
Community Effort Orlando (often shortened to CEO) is an annual fighting game event held in Orlando, Florida. Introduced in 2010 and organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known for its strong ties to the fighting game community. Fighting game players compete in a wrestling ring during the event's tournaments, and CEO has been a mainstay of the Capcom Pro Tour since its establishment in 2014. An annual side-event titled CEOtaku was initiated in 2015.
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Background
Described in 2016 as one of the biggest fighting game community events in the United States by Red Bull, CEO has been running annually since 2010 and has grown exponentially every year. Organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known primarily for emphasizing community spirit. Jebailey's goal for CEO is to ensure the entertainment of all its attendees. The event has an "infamous" wrestling ring in which tournament players compete in, and those who reach the finals make "WWE style entrances".
Jebailey himself has been interested in video game competition since 1993, when he won a local Street Fighter II Turbo tournament on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. He has competed in various tournaments during the 1990s and 2000s, including Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct competitions, as well as professional trading card game contests. Here, he got the inspiration and experience to become a tournament organizer. Jebailey joined Iron Galaxy in 2014.
2010
In 2010, there was a fighting game event that was "supposed to" happen in Orlando, but things did not come together until Alex Jebailey was assigned as Tournament Organizer three weeks prior to when the event was planned. He named the event 'Community Effort Orlando', managed the tournament brackets on his own, and ran the stream with one colleague. Florida was not known for having an active fighting game community, though the 2010 open tournament totaled 300 players.
2011
CEO was held on June 10–12 in 2011.
2012
Orlando Business Journal reported in 2012 that CEO was growing steadily, having reached 1,600 attendees and 30,000 online viewers. Jebailey stated that his presence on social media such as Twitter and Facebook has allowed the event to grow in size.
2013
CEO 2013 had over 1,800 attendees. The day after winning a CEO tournament, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 player Noel Brown was arrested for domestic abuse after attacking a fellow tournament player.
2014
CEO was held on June 27–29 in 2014 and was one of the ten Premier Events of the first annual Capcom Pro Tour, meaning that high-ranking players of the Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament at CEO could qualify for the 2014 Capcom Cup. CEO 2014 was also sponsored by One Frame Link, and Jebailey sold CEO-themed t-shirts based on the various games played during the event in order to crowdfund the prize pool of each tournament.
2015
CEO, taking place on June 26–28, was one of the sixteen Capcom Pro Tour events of the 2015 season, and the winner of its Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament automatically qualified for the 2015 Capcom Cup. Capcom revealed the first playable demo of Street Fighter V at CEO 2015. Held at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, CEO 2015 brought in over 3,000 attendees.
At the CEO 2015 Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament, well-known players such as Infiltration, Tokido, Yusuke Momochi, and Daigo Umehara were all eliminated before reaching the finals. The tournament was won by Kazunoko, who beat 801 Strider in the winner's bracket semi-final and defeated Fuudo in the Grand Final. As a response to the consistent success of Super Smash Bros.-player Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios throughout the 2015 season, Jebailey gave out a prize to whoever could knock him out of the CEO 2015 tournament. As a response, Smashboards owner Chris "AlphaZealot" Brown added more money to the "bounty". Regardless, ZeRo won the tournament, defeating Nairoby "Nairo" Quezada in the Grand Final.
Jebailey set up a side event called CEOtaku in October 2015. A portmanteau of CEO and otaku, the event focused specifically on Japanese 2D fighting games often referred to as "anime fighters". Such games have historically not gotten as much attention among the fighting game community. Jebailey got the idea of starting CEOtaku when he noticed that Florida features many anime conventions throughout any given year, and was inspired when he saw a side-event at Evo 2015 dubbed "ANIMEvo".
2016
CEO 2016 took place two weeks after the Orlando nightclub shooting. Jebailey quickly responded to people's worries regarding personal safety on social media that he would redouble the event's security. In an interview with Red Bull, Jebailey stated that "We understand bad things happen in the world, but if I can spend a weekend with my community and get away from it... I can’t imagine anything better."
CEO 2016, again a Capcom Pro Tour Premier Event, featured ten major fighting game tournaments, including Ultra Street Fighter IV side-to-side with Street Fighter V. Jebailey stated in an interview that there was a large amount of interest in the older game within the Florida fighting game community. Orlando Business Journal reported that the event had over 4,000 attendees from 46 states and more than 25 countries. Besides major tournaments of new games such as Pokkén Tournament, King of Fighters XIV, and Guilty Gear Xrd, the event included a "free-to-play" video game arcade and a guest appearance of professional wrestlers Xavier Woods and Kenny Omega.
2017
Jebailey announced in July 2016 that CEO 2017 would move away from its traditional late-June date in order for the event to be held in a new venue. The event may even move to a different city. CEOtaku would not be effected, however, and will continue to take place in the Wyndham Orlando Resort.