Ho Kun Xian () (born 15 September 1990), better known as Xian, is a

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Ind ...

professional fighting games player. Xian is currently part of

Team Razer Razer Inc. is an American-Singaporean multinational technology company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, financial services, and gaming hardware. Founded by Min-Liang Tan and Robert "RazerGuy" Krakoff, it is dual headqu ...

. He was the winner of ''

Ultra Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since '' Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. The coin-operated arcade game version ...

'' at

DreamHack Winter 2015 DreamHack is an ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions. It is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records and Twin Galaxies as being the world's largest LAN party and computer festival with the world's f ...

. At

Capcom Cup 2015 Capcom Cup 2015 was a professional ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' video game tournament that was held at Moscone Center in San Francisco on December 6, 2015. 32 players qualified for the tournament by winning one of the 16 Capcom Pro Tour Premier Ev ...

he got third place after being eliminated by eventual runner-up

Daigo Umehara is a Japanese arcade fighting video game player. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous ''Street Fi ...

. He beat

Yusuke Momochi Yusuke Momochi, better known as Momochi, is a Japanese professional fighting game player, particularly of ones in the '' Street Fighter'' series by Capcom. Momochi won the Capcom Cup 2014 championship, as well as winning the EVO 2015 title for ' ...

at Final Round 18. Xian plays

Gen Gen may refer to: * ''Gen'' (film), 2006 Turkish horror film directed by Togan Gökbakar * Gen (Street Fighter), a video game character from the ''Street Fighter'' series * Gen Fu, a video game character from the ''Dead or Alive'' series * Gen l ...

as his character of choice, as his stances allowed Xian more options. He stated that Gen was a very underestimated character that people have compared to

Dan Hibiki is a fictional character from Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' fighting game franchise. He was created to parody Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, the two lead characters of SNK's ''Art of Fighting'' series, as Capcom saw Ryo as a ripoff of ''Stre ...

and have easily dismissed as weak. He won '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition'' at EVO 2013.

Personal life

Born in 1990 to mother Lee Siew Lian, a cashier, and private-hire car driver father, Xian has an elder brother Ho An De. The whole family lives in a one-room HDB flat. After completing his secondary school

GCE Ordinary Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

, Xian did odd jobs, such as cargo lifter, home mover and hawker assistant, before he enlisted for National Service. It made him realised that he was not suitable for a nine-to-five job. In 2010, Xian met his girlfriend, Jen Tan, a tattoo artist, in an arcade who also played Street Fighter. Besides Tan, her parents are also supportive of his career.

Career

He also derived a huge sense of satisfaction whenever he beat his friends and had carved out a name for himself. His second-placing at the festival convinced him to start travelling to compete around the world. However, his family and friends were not supportive as it was just after his National Service and he was without a job. In 2014, he found sponsorship in

Razer Inc. Razer Inc. is an American-Singaporean multinational technology company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, financial services, and gaming hardware. Founded by Min-Liang Tan and Robert "RazerGuy" Krakoff, it is dual headqu ...

which allows him to play full-time. Now, his family and friends are supportive as he has won awards and can make a living just by gaming.

Tournament results

''Street Fighter''

''Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (v2012)''

* Shadowloo Showdown 2011 - 7th * Canada Cup 2012 - 1st * Red Fight District 2 - 1st * Final Round 16 - 5th * April Duels 2 - 1st * Texas Showdown 2013 - 2nd * NorCal Regionals 11 - 2nd * Topanga Asia League - 6th * South East Asia Major 2013 - 2nd * Community Effort Orlando (CEO) 2013 - 1st *

Evolution 2013 The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely Open (sport), open and use the Double-elimination tournament, double elimination for ...

- 1st * The Fall Classic 2013 - 3rd * Shadowloo Showdown 2013 - 7th * ThaigerUppercut 2013 - 1st *

DreamHack Winter 2013 The 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries ''Counter Strike: Global Offensive'' Championship, also known as DreamHack Winter 2013, was the first ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships, Major Championship. T ...

- 7th *

Capcom Cup 2013 Capcom Cup is an annual fighting game tournament specifically focused on the ''Street Fighter'' series. The event's first incarnation was in 2013 which featured '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition'' version 2012, ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capc ...

- 2nd * International Video Game Cup 2014 - 7th * Topanga World League - 5th

''Ultra Street Fighter IV''

* South East Asia Major 2014 - 7th * Capcom Pro Tour Korea - 1st * Capcom Pro Tour Taiwan - 5th * ThaigerUppercut 2014 - 3rd * Capcom Pro Tour Singapore - 1st * The Fall Classic 2014 - 2nd * Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals 2014 - 2nd * Capcom Cup 2014 - 2nd * Canada Cup Masters Series 2015 - 3rd * SXSW Gaming Expo 2015 - 7th * Final Round 18 - 1st * Red Bull Kumite 2015 - 5th * Hypespotting 4 - 5th * Topanga World League 2 - 3rd * Street Fridays Season 1 Finale - 4th * South East Asia Major 2015 - 7th * Capcom Pro Tour Asia Shanghai Qualifier - 1st * Sino Duel - 4th * KO Fighting Game Festival 2015 - 1st * Milan Games Week 2015 - 2nd * Capcom Pro Tour Asia Finals 2015 - 4th *

- 1st *

- 3rd

''(Ultimate) Marvel vs. Capcom 3''

* Shadowloo Showdown 2011 - 4th * April Duels 2 - 7th * Texas Showdown 2013 - 3rd * Shadowloo Showdown 2013 - 1st * International Video Game Cup 2014 - 1st * South East Asia Major 2014 - 4th * Canada Cup Masters Series 2015 - 3rd * Hypespotting 4 - 2nd * Stunfest 2015 - 3rd

''King of Fighters XIII''

* Canada Cup 2012 - 1st * Red Fight District 2 - 1st * Final Round 16 - 2nd * April Duels 2 - 3rd * Texas Showdown 2013 - 1st * South East Asia Major 2013 - 3rd * Community Effort Orlando (2013) - 4th * Evolution 2015 - 5th * The Fall Classic 2013 - 1st * Shadowloo Showdown 2013 - 1st * South East Asia Major 2014 - 2nd * ThaigerUppercut 2014 - 1st * The Fall Classic 2014 - 1st * Final Round 18 - 2nd

''Street Fighter V''

Stunfest 2016 Stunfest 2016 was a fighting game tournament that took place on May 21–22 in Rennes, France. Being a Premier Event of the Capcom Pro Tour, the winner of the event would qualify for the 2016 Capcom Cup. The Grand Finals of Stunfest 2016 wer ...

- 5th *

EVO 2016 The 2016 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2016 or EVO 2016) was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 15–17. Being hosted on the twentieth anniversary of the Evolution Championship Series, the event offered to ...

- 9-12th * Final Round 20 - 1st

Pop culture

Xian was notably among the people who reacted negatively about

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

's upcoming game ''

Metal Gear Survive ''Metal Gear Survive'' is a 2018 survival game developed by Konami Digital Entertainment and published by Konami. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February. It is the first ''Metal Gear'' game to be developed ...

'' during the game's debut trailer at Gamescom 2016. He said that he was speechless and felt that Metal Gear Solid and Zombies together would be weird while including a #why hashtag at the end of the tweet.

In the media

In 2017, Xian was featured in the

Channel NewsAsia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Si ...

series, ''Unusual Suspects'', about Singaporeans who have made their mark in unconventional fields. He appeared in ''Unusual Suspects: The Underdogs'' which was aired on 7 October 2017.

References

External links

Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Kun Xian 1990 births Living people Singaporean esports players Fighting game players Team Razer players Street Fighter players Marvel vs. Capcom players