Is SIFU A Fighting Game (Game Awards?)

SIFU was nominated in the best Fighting category. It has been argued (including on VFDC) that SIFU cannot be a fighting game because it has no two player or versus mode. And that it should be classified as only a brawler, or action adventure game.

Maximillian Dood, and other streamers rant that SIFU cannot be a fighting game because it is only single player. So

One of the primary arguments here is there is no such thing as a single player fighting game. After playing SIFU now for almost a year. Here are some facts I can share about the game from experience. In SIFU:

There are 50+ moves in the Movelist
There are combos
There are counter hits
There are cancels
There are evades
There are parries
There is ducking
There is a Dojo
There are reversals
There is blocking
There are staggers/stuns
There is spacing
There are footsies
There is side turned combat
There is back turned combat
There are knock downs
There are knock outs
There are life bars
The primary engine in the game is a fighting game engine
The primary theme of the game is about martial arts
The main objective of the game is to get better at fighting in the game

So what the game doesn't have two player Perhaps Max and the other youtube streamers that are bitchin, whining, and complaining about SIFU not being a fighting game should update their definitions and categories. Perhaps there is a such thing as a single player fighting game. SIFU is a good candidate for such a game.

Also I've played Tekken and Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat in the Arcades many years ago. But I didn't play against people. I put my tokens in the machines and played against the AI. According to Max and many other youtubers, I wasn't playing a fighting game because I was playing against the AI. (Which of course is ridiculous)

Of course you can have a single player fighting game. Its just the opponent is the AI in the game. So why can't the AI be considered as the second player? VF 4 EVO has better AI opponents than most of the human opponents I have played. The quality and sophistication of a Single Player Fighting game is measured by the quality and sophistication of the AI opponents, as well as the games overall fighting engine.

The FGC needs to modernize and expand its notion of a fighting game going forward. Instead of celebrating the fact that SIFU was nominated and the opportunities that a new genre of Fighting Game brings for the entire FGC, you got streamers out there hatin...