One of America's most recognizable and talented esports players was celebrated on Saturday night at the 2019 Esports Awards. Mortal Kombat 11 EVO Champion Dominique "SonicFox" McLean was awarded Esports Awards "Console Player of the Year".
SonicFox took to Twitter after winning the award, announcing "Hey! I won the esports award console player of the year!" SonicFox posted photos of themselves at the award ceremony. The photos showed them playfully "eating" their award.
SonicFox may be best known for their dominance at various fighting games, including Mortal Kombat and Dragonball FighterZ. It is commonly acknowledged that SonicFox has the ability to quickly master new fighting games and fighting game characters for tournament play. Their insight into the mechanics of those new games and characters and consistent ability to perform at such a high level are reasons alone why the blue and black fox should be lauded as one of America's top fighting game competitors. Even when SonicFox was beaten in an upset by rookie Ninjakilla, they remained a good sport, going so far to praise their opponent and saying how excited they were to see new, strong players in the fighting game scene.
As esports grow into a more universally recognizable industry, it makes sense to acknowledge and award those who achieve excellence. "Our aim is to ensure that success and achievement in esports is celebrated globally, acting as an impartial entity across all platforms and titles," says the Esports Awards on its website. "The players, teams, organizations, gamers, suppliers, distributors, platforms and fans have created esports as an industry, we document the contributions and successes ensuring they are immortalized."
While SonicFox and esports admittedly have a way to go before they become household names, it's worth noting that the industry is on that path. SonicFox may already be a part of pop culture, as they were possibly referenced in a skit on Saturday Night Live that took aim at Mortal Kombat and esports in general.
Congrats to SonicFox on receiving this award. If esports becomes more mainstream, like say, becoming an Olympic sport by 2022, then America couldn't ask for a better representative than Dominique "SonicFox" McLean.
Source: Esports Awards