Victoria Perez (born April 6, 1996),[1] known professionally as VikkiKitty, is an American esports match commentator who has worked in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Overwatch, Arms, Pokkén Tournament, and Apex Legends. She was the first woman to commentate a major Super Smash Bros. event.
VikkiKitty | |
|---|---|
 Vikkikitty at 2GGaming Championship Saga in 2017 | |
| Born | Victoria Perez April 6, 1996 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Match commentator |
| Esports career information | |
| Game | Super Smash Bros. for Wii U |
| Playing career | 2015 |
| Sports commentary career | |
| Sport | Esports |
| Employer |
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Career
editPerez played Super Smash Bros. throughout her childhood, but discovered competitive Smash by accident when, in mid-2015, she visited a LAN gaming center that was hosting a tournament.[2][3]4:00 She began traveling to local Fort Lauderdale, Florida tournaments, where she competed in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. In October of that year, the local tournament organizer recruited Perez to be a match commentator (also referred to as a caster) at his events. Weeks later, she was asked to commentate a larger, regional event, Frame Perfect.[2]
Perez was the first prominent woman caster in Super Smash Bros.[3]9:00[4][5][6] In January 2017, Perez cast Smash for Wii U at Genesis 4, a major tournament.[2] In June she was hired by Nintendo to commentate Arms and Pokkén Tournament tournaments at E3. Prior to that event, she had only commentated Smash events. In preparation for E3, she prepared over 40 pages of notes.[2] She also traveled to GamesCon in Germany to commentate for the subsequently cancelled game Breakaway.[5] Later that year commentated Smash for Wii U at EVO 2017 for a broadcast on Disney XD.[2] At the end of the year, she traveled to in Taipei to cast the Overwatch Heroes Rumble, one of the last Overwatch tournaments held before the launch of the Overwatch League.[7] In 2018, Nintendo brought her back to E3, this time to cast the first ever Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament, which was held at that event.[6] She also returned to Evo 2018,[8] and to Genesis 5.
She cast several major Smash Ultimate tournaments in 2019, including Genesis 6, Smash Ultimate Summit,[4] and Evo 2019,[9] the largest offline tournament in Super Smash Bros. franchise history.[10] In April she joined esports organization World Best Gaming as a commentator and brand ambassador.[4] The organization folded in August.[11] That same month, she joined Thunder Gaming.[12] She departed Thunder in January of the following year.[13] In January 2020, Perez traveled to Japan to commentate Evo Japan 2020.[3] A month later, she was announced as a caster for Overwatch Contenders,[14] the academy-tier tournament series for Overwatch. In April 2021 it was announced that she would be casting the 2021 season of the Overwatch League.[15]
Personal life
editPerez grew up in the greater Miami area in a Cuban American family.[2] She spent much of her childhood as an only child; her younger sister was born when Perez was 8.[3]3:30 Growing up, she participated in theater and was a member of a thespian honor society.[2] She grew up playing Smash Bros. titles and described herself as a "Nintendo kid". She spent several years playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Her handle, "VikkiKitty", came from a bet she made in that game; another player named "MisterFuzzyKitty" challenged her to an in-game duel, and because she lost, she joined his gaming clan. She has continued to use the handle for over a decade.[3]13:00
She graduated from Florida International University in 2019 with a degree in Mass Communications and Media Broadcast.[2]
References
edit- ^ Perez, Victoria [@VikkiKitty] (April 6, 2020). "Officially level 24 out here, this is where the nerfs start kicking in (aka my back alrdy hurts) 🎈" (Tweet). Retrieved August 11, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Seidel, Ben (August 17, 2017). "FIU's Victoria 'Vikkikitty' Perez Is the Electric New Voice of eSports". Study Breaks. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Plott, Nicolas (March 16, 2020). "Tasteless Podcast #30 - Victoria "VikkiKitty" Perez" (Video). YouTube. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ a b c Tate, Dylan (April 26, 2019). "VikkiKitty joins World Best Gaming as commentator and brand ambassador". Daily Esports. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ a b Marchante, Michelle (November 30, 2017). "'Event Match!': Student becomes first female commentator for Super Smash Bros". PantherNOW. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ a b D'Anastasio, Cecilia (January 31, 2019). "Top Smash Bros. Commentator Is No Longer Accepting Feedback On Her Speaking Voice". Kotaku. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ D'Orazio, Nick (December 14, 2017). "Why you should be watching the Overwatch Heroes Rumble this week". InvenGlobal. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Valdez, Gabriel (August 1, 2018). "The Schedule for Evo 2018 Has Been Revealed -". mxdwn Games. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Gordon, Justin (July 29, 2019). "EVO 2019 schedule and commentators revealed". EventHubs. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Gwilliam, Michael (July 16, 2019). "Super Smash Bros Ultimate has most registered players at Evo 2019". Dexerto. Dexerto Ltd. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ^ World Best Gaming (August 4, 2019). "The end" (Tweet). Twitter. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Tate, Dylan (August 9, 2019). "MVD and VikkiKitty join Thunder Gaming's new esports team". Daily Esports. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Perez, Victoria (January 11, 2020). "As 2020 marks a new year for my endeavors within esports, I have chosen not to renew my contract with @thundergaming so I can search for other opportunities" (Tweet). Twitter. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ "Introducing the Teams and Talent of 2020 Overwatch Contenders". Overwatch League. February 2, 2020. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ Richardson, Liz (April 6, 2021). "Doa returning to Overwatch League casting in 2021". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 3, 2021.