Grappling with the Skill Curve: Are Fighting Games Too Difficult?

Fighting games can be daunting when it comes to competitive play, but recent releases are trying to make the learning curve easier.

[JackGash]

I honestly think the difficulty depends on how much you want to learn. If you don't want to learn at all then the games will be impenetrable. You need to have a slight want to at least understand the game. The game is only as hard as you want to make it

[donwel]

I came here to say this, pretty much.
Fighting games are only hard if you don't put the effort in to learn the mechanics and get good.
It's increasingly obvious what these morons want is "press x to awesome/press x to win" games like they get in their casual mobile games. Where's the skill in that? Where's the sense of achievement that goes along with putting the time in to master something difficult?
Sadly it seems to be a product of our society where coddled kids have grown into coddled teens and adults who want everything handed to them on a silver platter without having to earn it.

[pompombrum]

The problem isn't that they are too difficult, it's that one of the main trends in gaming for a while now is to make games more accessible. Most newer generations of gamers just aren't used to games with high skill curves, they want to pick up their controller and have a blast. For me though, learning fighting games was one of the most satisfying things I've done in gaming, the 1v1 nature of them makes it a lot easier to see your progress and when it all comes together, it's an experience which no other gaming genre can really replicate.

[jjb1981]

Try pulling off an Ultra Combo on Killer Instinct in the arcade back when it first came out. Kids these days don't know the struggle.