You guys do realize that NRS sold way more copies of MKX than Capcom sold of SFV, right?
This. MKX outsold SF by orders of magnitude.. and I am a SF player more-so than MK player.
Now, in terms of tournament popularity, SF is SF, but, more than balance I feel like the netcode hobbled MKX a loy from the outset. As well as the initial clusterfuck and eventual abandonment of the PC players. Had the netcode been this good (and at least for me it has seemed to be really really good) and the PC version worked and not been abandoned I feel like MKx would have a larger competitive scene. today and one more spread out, as talent would have been abke to develop in more areas that had weak/nonexistent offline scenes.
That's not to say the game doesnt/hasn't had a good sized and healthy tournament scene, just that it could be larger.
As I said before, I'm more of a SF player than MKX player, but balance and original netcode aside, MKx is a better all around game than SF by an incredible amount. Disregarding the fighting systems/styles because those are a matter of preference - MKx offered WAY more game for the money. Street Fighter is Street Fighter though and it's *the* competitive game.
I feel like NRS is well positioned though to take lessons learned with Inj and MKX and hopefully really really deliver on Inj2 and the eventual, someday MK11 - and with SF kinda treading water, and the FGC getting more and more mainstream exposure, a future game with NRS's design chops, popular formula and ability to interest casuals as well as hardcore players, could be poised to take a piece of SFs dominance.
I personally would like to see (thinking realistically) a DotA / LoL situation in the FGC where ae have two extremely dominant games that are on semi-equal footing (yes,.I know it's not literally even but both are hugely popular and pull bog money), both of which draw in players and act as ambassadors for the genre itself.. creating a snowball effect with new players. Ideally having enough gravity from their mass to support the orbit of a handful of other titles that, while not having the absolute power of the primary titles, were still large, respected, well populated and profitable for the devs and pro players.. games like Guilty Gear and the latest Blazblue, etc.