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 Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament in 1996 in Sunnyvale, California. The event eventually moved to its recurring venue in the Las Vegas Valley.[3][4] 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.[5]
Originally the tournament used arcade cabinets, but in 2004 the decision was made to move all games over to their console versions, to a large amount of controversy.[6] During the transition to games on the seventh generation consoles, most games were played on a PlayStation 3,[7] though Evo 2014 ran most games on the Xbox 360.[8] 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.
B3: Battle by the Bay was organized by Tom "inkblot" Cannon, Tony "Ponder" Cannon, Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar, and Seth "S-Kill" Killian,[9] and held in the Golfland arcade hall in Sunnyvale, California. The tournament had 40 contenders mostly from the United States, though B3 also featured players from Canada and Kuwait.[10] B3 featured a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament.
The B4 Street Fighter Championships were held on July 15–16, 2000, in Folsom, California. 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.[11] 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.[12][13]
Held in August 2001 in Folsom, California, 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,[11] 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."[14]
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 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.[6] 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 (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.[17]
2005 was the first year Evo was held at the Green Valley Ranch casino and hotel in Las Vegas.
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, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Evo 2010, held at Caesars Palace 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, 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.[26]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.[27]
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 55,000-square-foot (5,100m2) ballroom. All 50 states of the U.S. were represented, as well as 44 additional countries.[28][29] Its livestream was watched by over 2 million unique viewers on UStream over the course of the event.[30]
In attendance was Street Fighter series producer Ono Yoshinori, who announced a free balance patch for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition.[31]Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada was also on hand to show new mechanics for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Soulcalibur V.[32][33] Other unreleased games shown were Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, King of Fighters XIII, Skullgirls 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.[34][35] Media outlets G4, GameSpot and Destructoid were all present to cover the event.[34][36]
Evo 2014 was announced on September 15, 2013. It was held on July 11–13, 2014 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino[8] 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.[45]Melee was eventually officially added to the roster with Nintendo's approval.[46][47]Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was also later added to the roster.[48]
While EVO 2015 initially was supposed to run on the PlayStation 4 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.[51] Cuellar also confirmed that EVO 2015 would use the technically outdated build of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on PlayStation 3.[52] 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.[53][54] EVO 2015 also acted as a Capcom Cup 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 Capcom/Sony and Iron Galaxy/Microsoft respectively.[55][56][57]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.[58] In addition, Atlus 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.[59]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 and Tekken Revolution newcomer Eliza.[60]
The Evo 2016 Street Fighter V finals in the Madalay Bay
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.[63] Like EVO 2015's Ultra Street Fighter IV finals, Capcom and Sony have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards Street Fighter V's prize pool and is also a Capcom Pro Tour qualifier.[64]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.[65] As with EVO 2015, NetherRealm and Warner Bros. have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards Mortal Kombat XL's prize pool.[66]Killer Instinct will be receiving a $15,000 bonus pot as part of the KI Ultra Tour funding.[67] On July 11, Aksys Games announced a $10,000 bonus pot towards Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'s prize pool.[68]
Evo 2017 took place on July 14 to 16 with the entire event being held at the Mandalay Bay resort.[69] 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, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.[70][71][72] 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, Mortal Kombat XL, Nidhogg, Windjammers, 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.[73] Upon the victory of UMvC3, Cuellar announced that Evo 2017 would be running the event with the PlayStation 4 version being used.[74]
Evo 2018 took place on August 3 to 5 with the entire event being held at the Mandalay Bay resort.[75] 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.[76]
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 canceled, with all event and hotel reservations to be refunded. Online tournament events had been scheduled from July 4 to August 2 as replacement activities.[78] 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.[79]
On March 18, 2021, it was announced that Evo had been acquired by a joint venture between Sony Interactive Entertainment 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.[80][81]
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, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, Skullgirls: 2nd Encore, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, and Tekken 7.[82]
Evo 2023 was announced for August 4 to 6, with Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, Dragon Ball FighterZ, The King of Fighters XV, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Tekken 7 all being featured. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was also announced as the eighth game of the lineup, serving to launch a new category dubbed a Throwback Tournament. Additionally, a pre-release tournament for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising was held, acting as the unofficial ninth lineup title. The event also underwent a format change, with finals switching from Top 8 to Top 6, seemingly due to runtime concerns.[83]
With 9,182 entrants, Evo 2023 was the largest Evo tournament in its over two decade history.[84]
EVO 2024 took place from July 19 to 21 and was held in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The lineup included Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 1, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes], Guilty Gear -Strive-, and The King of Fighters XV, with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike being the year's Throwback Tournament in celebration of both the 25th anniversary of the game, as well as the 20th anniversary of Moment #37.[85]
Outside Vegas
In 2010, the Evolution Championship organizers announced an official spin-off to the tournament series called "Evo vs Godsgarden", to be held in Japan 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.[86]
It was announced at Evo 2016 that a separate event simply titled "Evo Japan" is to be held in Japan.[87] Japanese media companies Aetas[ja], Hearts United Group[ja], and Shochiku Broadcasting[ja] together invested a total of US$1 million into the event.[88] 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.[89]
August 2023 also saw an announcement that Evo will be introducing a third event in a new location in 2024.[98]
In July 2024, it was announced that the third event, Evo France, would take place in Nice on October 10-12 2025, with the lineup consisting of Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 8, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves and Dragon Ball FighterZ.[99] Additionally, it was also announced that a fourth event would debut in Singapore in 2026, and that a new awards show called the Evo Awards would take place February 2025 in Los Angeles.[100][101] In December, it was announced that Evo Japan would take place on May 9-11 2025 in Tokyo, with a lineup consisting of Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and The King of Fighter XV, with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. being featured in special 5-on-5 team tournaments.[102]
The fighting game community, often abbreviated to FGC, is a collective of video gamers who play fighting games such as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros., Tekken, Soulcalibur, Dead or Alive, Virtua Fighter and many others. The fighting game community started out small in the late 1990s and throughout the 2000s referred to as the grassroots era, but it has grown to a larger scale in the 2010s, with many tournaments being held around the world. This is predominantly due to the rise of esports, online gaming, and digitized viewing habits on live streaming sites such as Twitch.
Christopher Gonzalez, also known as NYChrisG, is an American competitive gamer, specializing in fighting games. He is considered one of the top Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 players. He is also the EVO 2016 champion for Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on Super Smash Bros. The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyarce as champion of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Each year the event grew with more competitors entering. Apex 2014 garnered 629 entrants and was the 2nd largest tournament for Melee at the time after EVO 2013. Though the tournament initially focused on Brawl, the feature game has since switched to Melee due to its popularity. In 2010, an event for Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64 was added. In 2014, the fan modification of Brawl, Project M was added for singles only. Project M has recently been removed as an official event out copyright concerns under Nintendo of America sponsorship and Third Party relations.
William Peter Hjelte, better known by his gamer tag Leffen, is a Swedish professional fighting game player and streamer. Although mostly known as a Super Smash Bros. Melee player, he has also competed in Dragon Ball FighterZ, Guilty Gear Strive, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Melee, Hjelte plays the character Fox, and is considered one of the best players in the world, having been ranked as one of the top seven Melee players in the world every year since 2014. A 2021 list compiled by PGStats ranked Hjelte as the sixth greatest Melee player of all time.
Alex Valle, also known as CaliPower and Mr. Street Fighter, is a Peruvian-American fighting game tournament organizer and a retired professional fighting game player. Valle is mainly a Ryu specialist and is considered one of the most influential people within the fighting game community.
The 2016 Evolution Championship Series 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 tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Pokkén Tournament. Participation reached record-breaking numbers, with over 5,000 people registering for the Street Fighter competition alone. 2016 was the first time the Evo Grand Finals were held in an arena and were broadcast by ESPN2 in addition to Twitch.
The 2015 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including the largest Super Smash Bros. tournament up to that point and a highly popular Ultra Street Fighter IV tournament. The Street Fighter IV tournament was won by Yusuke Momochi, defeating GamerBee in the Grand Finals.
Community Effort Orlando is an annual fighting game event held in Daytona Beach, Florida. Prior to 2018, CEO was held in Orlando, Florida. Introduced in 2010 and organized by Alex Jebailey, the event is known for its strong ties to the fighting game community. Fighting game players compete in a wrestling ring during the event's tournaments, and CEO has been a mainstay of the Capcom Pro Tour since its establishment in 2014. An annual side-event titled CEOtaku was initiated in 2015.
The 2014 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in at Westgate Las Vegas on July 11–13. The event featured a major tournament for eight fighting games, including Ultra Street Fighter IV and BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. The event was part of the first Capcom Pro Tour.
The 2013 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held at Paris Las Vegas on July 12–14. The event featured a major tournament for nine fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Injustice: Gods Among Us. The event's Super Smash Bros. Melee livestream was controversially blocked by Nintendo of America, though the company decided to allow the tournament to be streamed after being faced with community backlash.
Hajime Taniguchi, better known as Tokido, is a Japanese fighting game player who plays the King of Fighters and Street Fighter franchises. He is known for playing multiple fighting games on a competitive level in addition to Street Fighter, including Tekken, Marvel vs Capcom 3, and BlazBlue. Tokido is a three-time EVO champion, having won Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2002 as well as winning Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 2007 and Street Fighter V ten years later. Tokido has had 28 Evolution top 8 finishes, having EVO medals in 12 different games across more than 20 years.
The 2017 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Injustice 2. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Tekken 7 receiving double the number of players from the previous year.
VSFighting is a tournament series of annual esports events that focuses on competitive fighting games. The tournament is open to all. VSF is the flagship tournament to Electronic Dojo, a fighting games community based in the West Midlands, UK.
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 and outside of the United States. The event offered tournaments for various fighting games, such as Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Over 5,000 people registered for the event with Street Fighter V and Tekken 7's entrant numbers being on par with their respective Evo 2017 numbers.
The 2018 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on August 3 to 5 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Over 10,000 people registered for the event with Dragon Ball FighterZ receiving the most entrants.
Ryan Joseph Hart, also known as Prodigal Son, Tsuujin, Robotnik, The Terminator and NeriahSensei, is a British professional fighting game player. He specialises in 2D and 3D fighter games released by Capcom, Bandai Namco, Sega, Midway, NetherRealm Studios and SNK. Ryan holds numerous National, European and World titles and has won the Evolution Championships twice. Hart also holds four world records within the Guinness World Record's for most international Street Fighter competition wins, most well-travelled fighting game champion, the longest winning streak on Street Fighter IV, and the most consecutive opponents on Street Fighter V. While Hart is predominantly known for his professional gaming career, he is also a commentator, tournament organiser, author, presenter, event host, model, translator and content creator.
The 2009 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Rio Las Vegas on July 17–19. The event featured major tournaments for various fighting games, including Super Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The release of Super Street Fighter IV drew many new players to the tournament scene, and Evo 2009 is remembered as one of the biggest years of Evolution's growth.
The 2019 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas from August 2 to 4, 2019 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, as well as the newly released Soulcalibur VI, Mortal Kombat 11, Samurai Shodown, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate; the latter received the most entrants with over 3,500 players participating, making it the largest in person Super Smash Bros. tournament of all time.
The 2020 Evolution Championship Series was a planned fighting game event. While a physical event was to have been in Las Vegas from July 31 to August 2, 2020, as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizations cancelled the physical event, and instead planned a series of online events running from July 4 to August 2, 2020. The online event was later cancelled due to sexual misconduct allegations against organizer and co-founder Joey Cuellar.
The 2022 Evolution Championship Series was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas from August 5 to 7, 2022 as part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various video games, including Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, and Dragon Ball FighterZ, as well as the newly released Melty Blood: Type Lumina, Granblue Fantasy Versus and The King of Fighters XV. It also marks the first time that Skullgirls was a main event game 10 years after its release. This is the first tournament held in-person since 2019. This is the first tournament sponsored under the co-sponsors Sony Corporation and Pokimane-led RTS.
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