The Biggest Fighting Game Tournament of 2023, EVO Las Vegas
The annual tournament, known as Evolution Championship Series, is by far the biggest and most iconic fighting game tournament of all time. Founded in 2001 years ago by Tom Cannon, of the old Shoyriken.com website, the event gave us many incredible moments from many incredible fighting games.
Featuring large and popular franchises like Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat, the rosters of EVO have always been a great selling point. In fact, before the official live stream announcements, the fans of the tournament often place wagers to speculate which one of their favourite games made it in EVO. This level of thrill make EVO titles similar to traditional online casino games, where players can select their favorite table games while building anticipation about potential rewards. Besides, the prize pools are as sizeable as the jackpots we encounter in the gambling sector. Since it is an open tournament, EVO continues to give many legendary players a chance to prove themselves and build a career in the industry, providing a minimum reward of 25 000 dollars on each game.
Since we recently had the above-mentioned official announcement, below we will go over the
confirmed roster of the upcoming event, as well as take a look at what some of the favorites of the tournament have to say going in.
Street Fighter 6
Starting strong, we have the freshest game on the list. So fresh, in fact, that it has yet to come out as of the announcement of the roster. The official release date for Street Fighter 6 is set on June second, a month before EVO 2023.
This may raise some questions about how the competing players will have enough time to get familiar with the game’s mechanics, but it is important to remember that the core of the said mechanics is largely the same as Street Fighter 5, a game which has been featured in the event multiple times.
The players in these events are extremely experienced and will have no problem picking up the
gameplay mechanics and giving us a highly entertaining show. One of these individuals is the reigning defending champion of EVO 2022 Street Fighter 5, Masaki Kawano.
In the brief interview, he spoke about how the open format of Evolution helped him climb up from the 600 the place player in 2018, to the champion that he is currently. He was asked about the potential pressure of defending the prestigious title, to which he replied that over the duration of the year it goes away, and that he is ready to play.
Dragon Ball Fighterz
Based on the very popular anime, Dragon Ball Fighterz is making its fourth appearance in Evolution. While the current defending champion is the French player BMS Wawa, the initial skyrocketing of the game happened due to the rivalry between American and Japanese players, Sonic Fox, and Go1.
These individuals exchanged championship titles in twenty eighteen and nineteen, in incredibly intense matches. The reigning champion stands ready for the potential return of these two players.
Tekken 7
Mortal Kombat 11
The game’s third and most likely final appearance at EVO, since mortal kombat 12 is around the corner.
There is speculation and many predictions as to who is going to be crowned as the champion in Las Vegas. The three names that pop up are NinjaKilla, SonicFox and the current defending champion, Matias Martinez.
Martinez stated that he is confident in the work that he put in the preparation for the event, and that he is ready for any upcoming challenger.
The King of Fighters XV
The King of Fighters is long running franchise with the current game making its second appearance. The current champion, Taiwanese ZJZ, describes the thing that separates Evolution from any other fighting game tournament, that being its atmosphere and scale.
ZJZ says that the tournament gives him a chance to compete in front of people who are passionate about fighting games, and that providing them the best gameplay he can, is much more important than winning.
Melty Blood: Type Lumina
Melty blood started out as an arcade game back in 2002, and made its way up to being a part of the Evolution roster, with Type Lumina making its second appearance. The champion of the game is an incredibly talented Japanese player Jing, who attended and won his first ever EVO tournament in 2022.
Guilty Gear Strive
Including the online EVO, it is Guilty Gears third appearance. The American player Umisho took the championship title after defeating a Saudi player slash in an intense match in 2022. He describes the pressure that he feels in attempting to defend his title in the upcoming event in front of the entire fighting game community, but also speaks of the excitement and atmosphere surrounding EVO.
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom
Last but certainly not least, we have one of the legendary games that skyrocketed EVO’s popularity, Marvel Vs Capcom 3. Making its seventh appearance it has gotten all the diehard fighting game fans excited.
This announcement has inspired some of the older players who have not competed in the tournament for a while, to return and re-experience the incredible environment of the EVO.
Conclusion and final thoughts
Looking at the roster and the heightened prize pools, it is safe to say that the Evolution tournament will only continue growing. Many fans have extremely high expectations for the upcoming tournament on August, stating that it may be the best EVO of all time.
