The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

event that focuses exclusively on

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

s. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, most notably from Japan. The first Evolution was originally held as a ''

Super Street Fighter II Turbo ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' is a fighting game released for the arcade game, arcades by Capcom in Japan on February 23, 1994, in North America on February 23 and March 26, 1994 (beta) and in Europe in March 1994 (beta). It is the fifth ins ...

'' and '' Street Fighter Alpha 2'' tournament called the

Battle by the Bay B3: Battle by the Bay, the B4 Championships, and the B5 Championships were the first three instances of the open fighting game event that is now known as the annual Evolution Championship Series. B3 was created by Tom and Tony Cannon, Joey Cuellar ...

. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the Las Vegas Valley since 2005. As of 2021, the event is jointly owned by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

and the Endeavor esports venture RTS.

History

Evo was founded by Tom Cannon, also known for his work on Shoryuken.com, a fighting game website. The tournament started as "Battle by the Bay", a 40-man ''

'' and '' Street Fighter Alpha 2'' tournament in 1996 in

Sunnyvale Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...

, California. The event eventually moved to its recurring venue in the Las Vegas Valley. The event changed its name to Evolution Championship Series, or EVO for short, in 2002. Over time, the tournament grew, recording over one thousand participants in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Originally the tournament used

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

s, but in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

the decision was made to move all games over to their console versions, to a large amount of controversy. During the transition to games on the seventh generation consoles, most games were played on a PlayStation 3, though Evo 2014 ran most games on the Xbox 360. Aside from the official tournaments, there is also a "BYOC" ("bring your own console") area in which many different games are played and side tournaments are held.

1996–2003: Tournament beginnings and re-branding

B3: Battle by the Bay was organized by Tom "inkblot" Cannon, Tony "Ponder" Cannon, Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar, and Seth "S-Kill" Killian, and held in the

Golfland Golfland Entertainment Centers are a chain of family amusement centers, miniature golf courses, and water parks located in California and Arizona. The company was founded in 1953. Locations *"Golfland" in Milpitas, California (1199 Jacklin Road, ...

arcade hall in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nort ...

. The tournament had 40 contenders mostly from the United States, though B3 also featured players from Canada and Kuwait. B3 featured a ''

'' and '' Street Fighter Alpha 2'' tournament. The B4 ''Street Fighter'' Championships were held on July 15–16, 2000, in

Folsom, California Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is commonly known for Folsom State Prison, the song "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, as well as for Folsom Lake. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 census. Folsom is pa ...

. B4 introduced several new Capcom fighting games to the roster: '' Street Fighter Alpha 3'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', and '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes''. The newly released ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' was the first non-''Street Fighter'' game to be included, and a precedent for the tournament to branch out to other games. The ''Capcom Versus'' series has since had a large presence in the Battle of the Bay and Evolution Championship Series events. Held in August 2001 in

, the B5 Championships was attended by a much larger international crowd, particularly from Japan. '' Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000'' made its introduction in the tournament roster at B5, and ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' was again a headliner of the event, being described by TechTV as "the hottest arcade fighting game of the season." In 2002, the event became formally known as its current name, "Evo". Evo 2002 took place on August 9, 2002, at the University of California, Los Angeles.

2004–08: Change to consoles, Moment 37 and EVO Circuit

Evo 2004 took place at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Southern California from July 29 to August 1. The tournament amassed approximately 700 competitors from over 30 countries to compete in over nine different games. The games featured included ''

'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is a crossover fighting game developed and published by Capcom. It is the fourth installment in the ''Marvel vs. Capcom'' series, which features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and comic book series published by Marvel Co ...

'', ''

Capcom vs. SNK 2 ''Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001'', known in Japan as , is the sequel to the fighting game ''Capcom vs. SNK''. It was originally released on NAOMI hardware in arcades. As in the original, players select a team of fighters from vario ...

'', '' Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution'', ''

Guilty Gear XX ''Guilty Gear X2'', also known as and subtitled ''The Midnight Carnival'' in Japan, is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Sammy Studios. The third main installment of the ''Guilty Gear'' series, ''Guilty Gear X2'' fu ...

'', '' Soulcalibur II'', '' Tekken 4'', and '' Tekken Tag Tournament''. Evo 2004 used home consoles for most of their tournament games instead of arcade cabinets, with the only exception being ''3rd Strike'' which used the more traditional arcade cabinets. Evo 2004 was the birthplace of " Evo Moment #37". During the ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'' tournament, Daigo Umehara (playing as Ken), while facing

Justin Wong Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to just Jwong, is a formerly American and now Canadian professional fighting game player. Wong has won more EVO titles than anyone else with nine tournaments won: seven for '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of ...

(using Chun-Li), successfully parried one of Chun-Li's "Super Moves" while having very little health left and then countered with his own, winning the match. This highlight became highly influential within the fighting game community. 2005 was the first year Evo was held at the Green Valley Ranch casino and hotel in Las Vegas. Evo 2006 took place at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas. 2006 was the first year that

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

gave its official, public support of the Evolution tournaments. Traditionally, Evo has only included fighting games, but in 2006 it included ''

Mario Kart DS ''Mario Kart DS'' is a 2005 kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD Group No. 1 and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in November 2005 in North America, Europe, and Australia, and on Dece ...

'' in its lineup. The other games featured were '' Dead or Alive 4'', '' Guilty Gear XX Slash'', and ''

Hyper Street Fighter II is a fighting game by Capcom that was originally released for the arcade and PlayStation 2 in 2003 in Japan and in 2004 in North America and Asia. Released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the ''Street Fighter'' series, ''Hyper Street Fi ...

''. Evo 2007, officially called Evo World 2007, took place from August 24 to 26 at the Green Valley Ranch, in Las Vegas. Throughout the year there were several other tournaments held throughout the US bearing the Evo name. The game roster had eight games, ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'', ''Virtua Fighter 5'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Street Fighter II Turbo'', ''Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection'', ''

Guilty Gear XX Λ Core ''Guilty Gear X2'', also known as and subtitled ''The Midnight Carnival'' in Japan, is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Sammy Studios. The third main installment of the '' Guilty Gear'' series, ''Guilty Gear X2'' ...

'', and ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. Evo 2008 took place at the Tropicana Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. from August 8 to 10. The tournament would feature six games within its official roster: ''

'', '' Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', '' Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', ''

'', and ''

''. The ''Brawl'' tournament was widely criticized for its ruleset, which allowed items on and saw a relatively unknown player defeat Ken Hoang. Evo 2008 also allowed attendees a preview of '' BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger'', '' Street Fighter IV'', ''

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'' is a two dimensional fighting game released using the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade download services. A physical copy of the game was later released as part of ''Capcom Digital Collection''. It ...

'', and ''

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'' is a crossover fighting game developed by Eighting and published by Capcom. The game features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and various anime series produced by Tatsunoko Produc ...

2009–13: ''Street Fighter IV'', live streams, and record numbers

Evo 2009 took place on July 17 to 19. Held at the Rio Convention Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the tournament itself would feature six games on its official roster: '' Soulcalibur IV'', ''Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core'', ''

'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''

'' and '' Street Fighter IV''. Notably, the newly released ''Street Fighter IV'' increased Evo attendance by a considerable margin, and the tournament for it alone boasted more than 1000 participants, almost three times that of the tournaments for the other games. Evo 2010, held at

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

from July 9, 2010 through July 11, 2010 had a massive number of competitors, with ''Super Street Fighter IV'' amassing approximately 1,800 players to duel for a $20,000 guaranteed prize pot. Most notable in this EVO was Justin Wong cementing his dominance in ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' in its proverbial

swan song The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...

, defeating the champion of the previous year, Sanford Kelly. Also notable was Wong failing to make the top 8 in ''Super Street Fighter IV'', falling victim first to Vance "Vangief" Wu, and soon after to Taiwanese player Bruce "GamerBee" Hsiang. '' Melty Blood: Actress Again'' was included after a poll on Shoryuken.com to decide on the final game of the tournament, beating out ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Soulcalibur IV'', and '' The King of Fighters XII''. '' BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger'' was to be included, but after a majority of the community moved on to '' BlazBlue: Continuum Shift'', the decision was made to replace it with ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2''. Also notable was G4's limited coverage of the event, even offering '' X-Play'' host Adam Sessler for commentary of the ''Super Street Fighter IV'' finals. EVO 2011 Street Fighter cosplayers

For Evo 2011, a tournament season was announced in which players could earn ranking points at one of eight tournaments. It took place at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino from July 29 to 31, utilizing a ballroom. All 50 states of the U.S. were represented, as well as 44 additional countries. Its livestream was watched by over 2 million unique viewers on UStream over the course of the event. In attendance was Street Fighter series producer Ono Yoshinori, who announced a free balance patch for ''Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition''. ''

Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...

'' series producer Katsuhiro Harada was also on hand to show new mechanics for '' Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' and '' Soulcalibur V''. Other unreleased games shown were ''

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom in collaboration with Eighting. It is an updated version of '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds''. The game features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and comic book se ...

'', '' King of Fighters XIII'', ''

Skullgirls ''Skullgirls'' is a 2D fighting game developed by Reverge Labs and published by Autumn Games. In ''Skullgirls'', players fight each other with teams of one, two, or three characters, attempting to knock out their opponents or have the most cumul ...

'' and ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition''. A ''Skullgirls'' side tournament was held in which the winner received a one-of-a-kind Skullgirls-themed arcade stick. Media outlets G4, GameSpot and Destructoid were all present to cover the event. Evo 2012 took place July 6 to 8, 2012, at

, Las Vegas. On January 3, Joey Cuellar announced that Evo 2012 would have 6 main tournament games, '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)'', ''

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'', '' Soulcalibur V'', '' The King of Fighters XIII'' and ''

Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Microsoft Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game feature ...

''. The tournament series from the previous year returned, featuring seeding points for all six games in 17 events all across the world. Evo 2013 was announced on December 2, 2012. It was held on July 12–14 at Paris Las Vegas. On January 8, Joey Cuellar announced that EVO 2013 would have eight main tournament games, with the first seven revealed being ''

'', '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)'', '' Tekken Tag Tournament 2'', ''

'', '' Street Fighter X Tekken (Version 2013)'', '' The King of Fighters XIII'', and '' Persona 4 Arena''. The eighth game was voted on by players via online donations, all proceeds of which went to the

Breast Cancer Research Foundation The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) is an independent, not-for-profit organization which has raised $569.4 million to support clinical and translational research on breast cancer at medical institutions in the United States and abroad. BC ...

. The eventual winner of the poll was ''

Super Smash Bros. Melee ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' is a 2001 Fictional crossover, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. I ...

'' with $94,683 raised for that game, while the total amount of donations was $225,744. Nintendo of America initially sent a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

letter to cancel the streaming of ''Melee'' matches, although after popular backlash a live stream was ultimately allowed to be carried out as planned. On May 7, 2013, it was announced that '' Injustice: Gods Among Us'' would be a main tournament game, thus expanding the game roster from eight to nine.

2014–19: ''Smash'' boom and international growth

Evo 2014 was announced on September 15, 2013. It was held on July 11–13, 2014 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino On February 6, 2014, Cuellar announced that Evo 2014 would include '' BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', ''Injustice: Gods Among Us'', ''The King of Fighters XIII'', '' Killer Instinct'', and '' Ultra Street Fighter IV'' while also mentioning that discussions were ongoing with Nintendo on the possible inclusion of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. ''Melee'' was eventually officially added to the roster with Nintendo's approval. '' Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' was also later added to the roster. Evo 2015 took place on July 17–19, 2015 at the Bally's / Paris Las Vegas Casino. On January 20, 2015, Cuellar announced that Evo 2015 would include '' Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-'', ''

'', ''

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and (colloquially and collectively referred to as ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' or ''Smash 4'') is a group of two 2014 crossover fighting video games developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS a ...

'', '' Killer Instinct'', '' Mortal Kombat X'', ''

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'' is a fighting game, fighting video game co-developed by Atlus and Arc System Works. It was released for arcade game, arcades in 2013, and for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014 by Atlus in Japan and North America and b ...

'', '' Ultra Street Fighter IV'', ''

'', and '' Tekken 7''. While EVO 2015 initially was supposed to run on the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

version for ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', the tournament instead used the Xbox 360 version, due to a large number of bugs and glitches found by players in the newly released port. Cuellar also confirmed that EVO 2015 would use the technically outdated build of ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'' on PlayStation 3. On May 25, Cuellar confirmed that both ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' surpassed 1,500 entrants each. Cuellar later confirmed that ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' surpassed 2,000 entrants. EVO 2015 also acted as a

Capcom Cup 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 ...

qualifier for ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', as well as a Killer Instinct World Cup qualifier for ''Killer Instinct'', with both games receiving respective bonus pots of $50,000 from

/ Sony and

Iron Galaxy Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC is an American video game developer studio founded on August 14, 2008, and based in Chicago, Illinois, with a second studio in Orlando, Florida that was opened in 2012 and a third studio in Austin, Texas. Iron Galaxy ...

/ Microsoft respectively. NetherRealm and Warner Bros. have also donated $50K towards the bonus pot for ''Mortal Kombat X'', due to the success of the Blue Steel Sub-Zero skin. In addition,

Atlus is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for video game series such as ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona'', ''Etrian Odyssey'' and ''Trau ...

has donated $10K towards the bonus pot for ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'', while Arc System Works and Aksys Games donated the same amount to the bonus pot for ''Guilty Gear Xrd''. Bandai Namco has announced that they have provided a $30K bonus pot for ''Tekken 7'' as well as providing all competitors in said game an exclusive T-shirt featuring franchise veteran

Lili ''Lili'' is a 1953 American film released by MGM. It stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for ...

and Tekken Revolution newcomer Eliza. Evo 2016 - Mandalay Bay

Evo 2016 took place from July 15–17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, while Sunday finals took take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. The tournament featured '' Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'', '' Street Fighter V'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', ''

Mortal Kombat XL ''Mortal Kombat X'' is a 2015 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the tenth main installment in the '' Mortal K ...

'', '' Pokkén Tournament'', '' Killer Instinct'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', and '' Tekken 7: Fated Retribution''. The tournaments for ''Street Fighter V'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', and ''Mortal Kombat XL'' finished on Sunday. The finals for ''Street Fighter V'' was broadcast live on ESPN2 and live coverage of the tournament was available through ESPN's WatchESPN service, in addition to the tournament's regular Twitch streams. Joey Cuellar has announced record breaking numbers which includes '' Street Fighter V'' reaching more than 5,000 entrants, Smash 4 and Melee each reaching more than 2,000; Pokkén reaching more than 1,000 entrants while other games either increased or decreased. Like EVO 2015's Ultra Street Fighter IV finals,

and Sony have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards Street Fighter V's prize pool and is also a Capcom Pro Tour qualifier. The Pokémon Company has announced a $10,000 bonus pot towards Pokkén Tournament's prize pool and is a Pokkén Tournament Championship Series qualifier, with 1st and 2nd place being able to qualify for the finals. As with EVO 2015, NetherRealm and Warner Bros. have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards

's prize pool. ''Killer Instinct'' will be receiving a $15,000 bonus pot as part of the KI Ultra Tour funding. On July 11, Aksys Games announced a $10,000 bonus pot towards Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'s prize pool. Evo 2017 took place on July 14 to 16 with the entire event being held at the Mandalay Bay resort. The tournament featured '' Guilty Gear Xrd REV2'', '' BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', '' Injustice 2'', ''Street Fighter V'', ''Tekken 7'', ''

The King of Fighters XIV ''(KOF XIV)'' is a 2016 Japanese fighting game. Part of SNK's franchise ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') series, with this installment being published by Atlus USA in North America and Deep Silver in Europe. After the 13th installment that ...

'', and ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3''. The ninth game was chosen by a donation drive which all of the funds have gone towards Make-A-Wish International. ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' was the winning game with ''Pokkén Tournament'' being the runner-up. Other games in contention were '' Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'', ''

ARMS Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

'', ''Mortal Kombat XL'', '' Nidhogg'', ''

Windjammers A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

'', ''Killer Instinct'', and ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo''. The Sunday finals included ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' (as the opening game), ''BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''Tekken 7'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', and ''Street Fighter V''. Upon the victory of ''UMvC3'', Cuellar announced that Evo 2017 would be running the event with the

version being used. Evo 2018 took place on August 3 to 5 with the entire event being held at the Mandalay Bay resort. The tournament featured ''Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', '' BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle'', ''Guilty Gear Xrd REV2'', ''Injustice 2'', and ''

Dragon Ball FighterZ ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'' (pronounced "fighters") is a 2.5D fighting game, developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Micr ...

''. Evo 2019 took place on August 2 to 4 with the entire event being held at the Mandalay Bay resort. The tournament featured ''Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', '' Mortal Kombat 11'', '' Soulcalibur VI'', '' Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late t', ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'', ''BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle'', and '' Samurai Shodown''.

2020–present: COVID-19 cancellation and new ownership

Evo 2020 was to have taken place from July 31 to August 2 at the Mandalay Bay resort. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical event had been cancelled, with all event and hotel reservations to be refunded. Online tournament events had been scheduled from July 4 to August 2 as replacement activities. However, at the start of July 2020, charges of sexual misconduct were leveled at EVO CEO Joey Cuellar. The EVO board released Cuellar on July 2 and replaced him with Tony Cannon as interim CEO but by then, several publishers including Capcom, Bandai Namco, NetherRealm, and Mane6 had decided to pull out from the event. The EVO board decided to cancel the event, refund those tickets and donate the remaining funds to Project HOPE. On March 18, 2021, it was announced that Evo had been acquired by a joint venture between

and the talent agency Endeavor (RTS). It was concurrently announced that Evo Online 2021 will be held August 6–8 and August 13–15, 2021, and feature '' Guilty Gear Strive,'' ''Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate,'' ''Street Fighter V: Champion Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', and '' Skullgirls: 2nd Encore''. Evo stated that the Sony ownership of the competition will not affect its ability to include events for non-PlayStation games, although all games in the 2021 lineup are either available on, or console-exclusive to, PlayStation. Evo 2022 took place from August 5 to 7 at the Mandalay Bay resort. The event is the first since 2019 to take place in-person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament featured ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'', '' Granblue Fantasy: Versus'', ''Guilty Gear Strive'', ''

The King of Fighters XV , also called ''KOF XV'', is a fighting game developed by SNK. It was released on February 17, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. This is also the first game in ''The King of Fighters'' series created using Unreal ...

'', '' Melty Blood: Type Lumina'', ''Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate'', ''Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'', ''Street Fighter V: Champion Edition'', and ''Tekken 7''.

Evo Japan

In 2010, the Evolution Championship organizers announced an official spin-off to the tournament series called "Evo vs Godsgarden", to be held in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

the following year. However, the tournament was called off following the Tohoku earthquake and postponed indefinitely. During a Nico Nico livestream following Evo 2013, Cuellar stated that he was still interested in holding a Japan-based tournament. It was announced at Evo 2016 that a separate event simply titled "Evo Japan" is to be held in Japan. Japanese media companies Aetas,

Hearts United Group Hearts most commonly refers to: * Hearts (card game), a trick-taking game * Hearts (suit), one of the standard four suits of cards * Heart, an organ Hearts may also refer to: Music * The Hearts, an American girl group closely related to the J ...

, and

Shochiku Broadcasting () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

together invested a total of US$1 million into the event. During a presentation at the Tokyo Game Show in 2016, the Evolution organizers announced that the tournament is to be held in January 2018, while some form of "pre-tournament" took place in 2017. At Evo 2017, the

Evo Japan 2018 The 2018 Japanese Evolution Championship Series, commonly referred to as Evo Japan 2018, was a fighting game event held in Tokyo, Japan on January 26–28. As mentioned in its namesake, the event was the first Evo event to take place in Japan an ...

lineup was revealed to consist of '' Street Fighter V'', ''

Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is a fighting video game sub-series by Arc System Works and part of the '' Guilty Gear'' series. ''Guilty Gear Xrd'' was developed using Unreal Engine 3, with cel-shaded graphics in place of the series traditional hand drawn sprites. Following ...

'', '' Tekken 7'', ''

'', '' BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''

'', and ''

''; the event took place from January 26 to 28. The lineup is known to emphasize titles that are popular in Japan, as titles such as ''

'', '' Injustice 2'', and '' Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite'' are notably absent mostly due to their lack of popularity in the region. Despite the 7,000 entrants, Evo Japan ended up reporting a $1.13m loss according to financial reports by Hearts United Group.

Evo Japan 2019 The 2019 Japanese Evolution Championship Series, commonly referred to as Evo Japan 2019, was a fighting game event held in Fukuoka, Japan on February 15–17. This was the second Evo event to take place in Japan. The event offered tournaments for ...

was held in February 2019. In October 2019, it was revealed that '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' would be the headlining game for ''Evo Japan 2020''. Following EVO 2022, the EVO Japan 2023 tournament was unveiled. This will have a lineup of '' Guilty Gear Strive'', ''Street Fighter V'', ''Tekken 7'', and ''King of Fighters XV''''.'' The event will take place in March 2023.

Champions

References

External links

* {{Fighting game community 1996 establishments in California Annual events in Nevada Nintendo Nintendo events Recurring events established in 1996 Super Smash Bros. tournaments 2021 mergers and acquisitions Sony Interactive Entertainment Joint ventures