Evo’s first year with Sony in charge has come and nearly gone, with online regional finalists awaiting the call to compete against one another in the fall. now, Evo has announced that the event will return to an in-person tournament format next year.
Evo, or Evolution, is the largest fighting game event there is, boasting thousands of players from across the globe competing in different titles. This year’s tournament is the first since Sony bought the brand in March. It is also its first time being an online-only event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After Sony’s initial acquisition of the event, many fighting game fans wondered if big changes were coming involving the usual lineup of games, the locale of the event, and hardware limits. Thankfully, those worries are put to rest with today’s announcement.
Not only will Evo keep its traditional location of Las Vegas, but it seems as though the tournament will continue to host games outside of Sony’s sphere. The video features a clip from Super Smash Bros., which was absent from the online event this year. Many people thought the series may not return due to Sony’s involvement in Evo.
Also very important to note. @EVO is still open to all platforms. The teams at PlayStation and RTS are enabling us to continue working with our community to support fighting games. https://t.co/NKMQUSvkfj
— Mark Julio (マークマン) (@MarkMan23) March 18, 2021
While Evo 2021 still was a very successful event this year, boasting over 40,000 tournament entries across its Evo and pre-Evo tournaments, it showed how hard it can be to run an online competition of this size. The announcement of a return to an offline venue resulted in a sigh of relief from many in the community.
Holy smokes, that was my scream during @soulcalibur. I miss offline so badly. So amped for EVO 2022!! https://t.co/i9C95oUfR9
— Alicia Junus 🌸AXL aliciaxlife (@aliciaxlife_) August 16, 2021
Evo 2022 is set to take place back at its original home of Las Vegas from August 5-7, 2022, with a return to in-person competition.
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