For fans of fighting games, there’s bad news and a bit of good news. Let’s start with the bad one: Evo 2020 is definitely cancelled, the live competition anyway. The bit of good news is that it’s still going to happen, in a way, with the event becoming purely online.
This was revealed by the Evo team in a tweet on Saturday. The reason was, obviously, the threat of COVID-19, with the team saying that “the health and well-being of our community is our highest priority.” Evo 2020 is also going to refund all tickets purchased.
Evo, or the Evolution Championship Series, is an esports event held every year and is all about fighting games. Players from around the world take part to see who is the best. However, at the start it was known as Battle of the Bay, with the first incarnation featuring competition for Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. It was in 2002 when the event renamed itself to Evo, and it has been that way since.
The event has seen its fair share of epic moments. One of these was during Evo 2004 and is now known as Evo Moment #37 or more famously as the Daigo Parry. Then there is also the Hakan comeback. Among the best players, it is Justin “Jwong” Wong that holds the most number of championships with nine.
For this year, Evo was supposed to be held from July 31 to August 2 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. For Evo 2020, the games include:
- Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition
- Tekken 7
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Granblue Fantasy Versus
- Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st]
- Dragonball Fighter Z
- Soul Calibur 6
- Samurai Shodown
In addition to these games already mentioned, there was also going to be an eight-player invitational to Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Dubbed as the Tournament of Champions, this was to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Had this pushed through, fans would have seen the likes of Justin Wong, Sanford Kelly, Duc Do, and Michael “Yipes” Mendoza taking part.
However, it’s interesting to note that Mortal Kombat 11 was not included in the list of games. This move is something that left many fans of the event wondering about the decision.
While Evo did say it will be holding the competition online, there are no details yet as to how they’re going to make that happen and how fans can watch the fights. Expect more news about the online-only Evo 2020 to be released in the coming weeks.
