>>45198679Need some clarification from your data, anon. First of all, about VGC participants. Is that hundreds of thousands per month, or hundreds of thousands in all? I shouldn't need to tell you why the latter isn't a proper comparison with a monthly statistic from showdown.
Second, big fucking surprise the two battle formats actually supported by the game have more players in the game. SWSH discourages 6v6 play at every turn, you're slapped with a fucking twenty minute timer that runs through unskippable animations ffs. Of course the cart statistics are skewed against 6v6, they won't even let you randomly match for it. Meanwhile 3v3 and doubles you can just jump in for and play on a whim.
6v6 is historically the most popular format, because it's what the games presented to us in the single player. The fact that showdown exists the way it does is just proof of its enduring popularity, and GF's absolute refusal to accommodate for it. If VGC was really more popular, how come all the major competitive youtubers primarily focus on singles? How come competitive discussion is primarily focused on singles? How come "it's balanced in doubles :^)" is a fucking meme? And no, don't try to pretend they're all talking about battle spot singles. You said yourself it's a world of difference.
6v6 singles is ridiculously underserved as a format on cartridge. They just don't want us to easily play it for whatever reason.