Is Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero an esports game?

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is one of the most popular anime fighters ever, but like other games in the genre, it wasn’t built to be balanced for esports. However, Sparking Zero’s explosive gameplay is fun to watch, plus the roster features hundreds of unique characters and forms, so it still has many components that make it a perfect competitive title.

Though Sparking Zero hasn’t quite ascended to esports status as of July 2025, various balancing patches have recently been released to create a fairer experience for online players, so let’s discuss why DBSZ could slowly become a bastion for competitive play in the FGC.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a 3D anime fighter with a story mode and online ranked play. Online matches are divided into two main categories, Single Battle and DP Battle. The roster is packed full of popular characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, like Goku and Jiren, though they aren’t all equally balanced against one another.

There’s an argument to be made that Sparking Zero was built around both competitive and casual play, but recent updates have significantly improved balancing between fighters, so a future esports scene is looking more likely in 2025.

To better understand why Sparking Zero isn’t officially considered an esports game, we can look at quotes directly from the title’s producer, Jun Furutani. Furutani told GamesRadar in June 2024 that DBSZ is “definitely not an esports game like FighterZ.”

Additionally, during an interview in August 2024 with Automaton, Furutani was asked about the type of game that Sparking Zero was built to be, if it’s not focused on competitive esports. 

Furutani responded: “Esports games are understood to be the sort of game in which players can enjoy highly competitive battles where the characters are balanced in a fair way. On the other hand, Sparking! ZERO’s focus is on immersion, and we wanted to make it a game that people who like Dragon Ball even a little will surely enjoy. We value the Dragon Ball experience more than the esports experience.”

Producer Jun Furutani has consistently expressed that they aimed to create a game where you feel like your favourite characters from the Dragon Ball franchise. Though Sparking Zero definitely has esports potential, it would probably require rebalancing to provide fair competition to every participant.

We’ve already seen what an esports competition might entail for Sparking Zero in tournaments like The Dramatic Showdown. The roster has enough characters to provide interesting matchups in every round, while recent balancing changes to Single Battles make it so that every fighter is roughly equal in strength.

There are a few key reasons that Sparking Zero may blossom into an esport over the next few years, so here’s why we believe DBSZ should focus on competitive tournaments.

Most esports are based around a roster of unique characters that launch with a few dozen options at most, but Sparking Zero has over 100 fighters, so every battle is completely different. While many characters share similar skills and attacks, the moveset of each fighter is unique, offering an infinite amount of matchups to enjoy.

Arguably, the biggest selling point of Sparking Zero is that the attacks mirror popular blasts and melee moves from the Dragon Ball anime. The animation of Dragon Ball is why it’s so popular, so Sparking Zero could have similar success since it’s simply so fun to watch.

Sparking Zero may have launched with an unbalanced roster of characters, but numerous updates since 2024 have helped create a fairer experience overall. The June 2025 patch updated Single Battles to eliminate major differences between DP values, meaning that every fighter now deals comparable damage and has similar HP.

The latest patch offered the most significant balancing updates, proving that Bandai is dedicated to competitive character balancing in Single Battles. If Sparking Zero ever heats up in the esports space, then Single Battles may offer the best format since every character has the same power level.

It’s clear that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero wasn’t designed to be an esports title, but it does contain competitive elements that can hold the interest of an audience. With a gigantic roster and deep gameplay mechanics, there’s endless potential for interesting character matchups.

As Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero grows as a game, it could implement more competitive components. If Sparking Zero continues to receive balancing updates, then it may morph into an esport following a future patch or sequel.