The Evolution Championship Series, known as Evo, is gearing up for its largest ever event. The premier fighting game tournament expects 60,000-plus fans to attend the event this weekend, July 19 to July 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Evo’s first ever tournament was in 2002, making it both the largest and longest running fighting game tournament. The multi-game event brings the fighting game community together, featuring titles from several publishers. This year, 10,224 players from 63 countries registered to compete.
In 2021, Sony purchased the tournament and helped usher in a new wave of sponsorships and convention-style programming.
“Evo’s growth stems from focusing on what we believe the event should always extol — the spirit of competition and the community that has been actively supporting fighting games for over three decades,” said Rick Thiher, general manager of Evo. “Evo intends to keep that focus front and center for generations of players to come.”
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For the first time ever, Evo is keeping its 600,000 sq ft show floor open for all three days of the tournament. Traditionally, the tournament relocated to a larger arena for the finals on its third day. This will give fans more time to explore Evo’s largest arcade ever, Artist Alley, Evo’s first ever Art Gallery, Beyond the Arcade Stick Museum and more.
The fighting game community (FGC) tournament has also expanded its slate of panelists, content creators and cosplayers. These include a Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves exhibition, a Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact exhibition, a Live Rivals React with Justin Wong and IFC Yipes, panels from Capcom, Bandai Namco, Arc System Works, Cygames and SNK. Additionally, Riot will return to Evo to promote its upcoming fighting game: 2XKO. The Evo Cosplay Competition also returns with a grand prize of a trip to a future Evo event and will be hosted and judged by VampyBitme, Kaori Horiuchi and Hello Cute Life.
“We continue to see tremendous growth at Evo every year across our competitor registrations, spectator tickets, brand partnerships, and show floor activations,” said Stuart Saw, CEO for RTS, who co-owns and manages Evo along with Sony Interactive Entertainment. “We’re proving that brands can be a meaningful part of the fighting game community as an actual community member rather than a one-time visitor.”
Together, Sony and RTS have helped Evo attract more high-profile sponsorships and brand activations. PlayStation itself is providing all tournament consoles and over 1,500 Pulse Elite wireless headsets alongside a massive booth on the show floor.
Chipotle returns as Evo’s presenting partner for the second year in a row. The brand plans to give round one competitors free entrée cards and surprise co-branded merchandise for players that advance to the third round. Additionally, the brand has sponsored The Chipotle Community Lounge where the brand will run giveaways. Fans at home will be treated to the “Chipotle Extra Match” segments, which will allow Evo to air more matches than ever.
Other brand partners include AT&T, Azarus.io, Crunchyroll, Displate, Kizik, Razer, Red Bull, Qiddiya, and Zenni.
| Brand | Activations |
|---|---|
| AT&T | Giving away AT&T Golden Fight Sticks from Victrix through interactive Evo trivia and giveaways and awarding PlayStation Plus Premium codes via a classic Rock Paper Scissors battle with previous Evo champions on-stage. |
| Azarus.io | Powering Evo’s interactive livestream integrations |
| Crunchyroll | Airing the Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie Saturday night for free. Crunchyroll Premium Members also get 5% discount on all Evo merchandise. |
| Displate | Releasing an exclusive commemorative Displate metal poster available both on-site and online — use code EVO for a discount. |
| Kizik | Releasing a limited-edition Evo x Kizik Milan collab sneaker for the second year available both on-site and online. |
| Razer | Providing six show floor competition stages with BlackShark V2 esports headsets and selling Evo-exclusive gear on-site, including a special edition of the all-button arcade controller, Razer Kitsune. |
| Red Bull | On Saturday and Sunday night, Red Bull’s Best Seats In The House is surprising select fans with seat upgrades for the finals |
| Qiddiya | Visit Qiddiya’s Legends Lounge to play its Beat-a-Pro exhibition matches against Evo champions and receive exclusive swag. |
| Zenni | Launching the Evo x Zenni eyewear collection including exclusive bundles on-site. Additionally, the brand is giving fans a behind the scenes look at the Top 6 matches with Zenni’s Getting Focused segments. |
Tickets are still available for Evo, taking place this weekend July 19 to July 21.
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