I still cannot believe it. For the first time ever, I will be at EVO, trying my absolute best to cover one of the biggest fighting game conventions ever. I'm over excited, but not overwhelmed. I think that's a good thing.
For those of you who don't know, EVO is THE fighting game tournament to be in. It is a 3 day festival centered by tournaments and competitions, but surrounded by convention standards, like vendors, exhibits, meet and greets, and a very large pop up arcade. 6.5 million are expected to tune in, and people from 60 different countries will be featured in the tournaments.
EVO, presented in part by Chipotle, will take place across 13 acres on the EVO show floor. Chipotle will be joined by other presenting partners such as AT&T, Playstation, Qiddiya Gaming, Nacon, Zennu, Red Bull, White Claw Zero Proof, Under Aumour, Voodoo Ranger IPA, and Grand Archive TCG. Chipotle leads the charge here, providing free rides to nearby Chipotles in a foil wrapped Burrito bus, which is the strangest sentence I've typed so far.
Chipotle will have something called the Burrito Meter available on Twitch, were viewers can emote during the commercials, and fill up a Burritometer (I made that word up), leading them to get text-to-win Chipotle giveaways. Competitors who make it out of round two pools also get some freebies. There will be pop up tournaments, free swag, and more meet & greets in the Community Lounge.
The Arena lineup consists of Fatal Fury: COTW, Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, Guilty Gear Strive, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Under Night, In-Birth SYS: Celes. There are also extended tournaments in Rivals of Aether II, KOF XV, Samurai Showdown, Blazblue Centralfiction, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Capcom VS SNK 2. Virtual Fighter 5 R.E.V.O, and Killer Instinct. There will be more games tournaments taking place, as well, but we would be here all day. Also, as press, I cannot compete.
Last year, Evo Vegas featured 10,000+ competitors, and became the largest tournament in esports history As this one is the US version, EVO also took place in Japan, and will take place, in France later this year, and Singapore in 2026. If this goes well, maybe I'll take my first trip overseas. They've come a long way from 2002.
I'm hoping to interview some of my favorite fighting game content creators, and competitors. IFC Yipes, Justin Wong, Smug, Diaphone, Rooflemonger, last years Street Fighter 6 champ Punk, and of course, Maximillion Dood. I'm sure there will be opportunities to meet the people behind my favorite fighting games, so I hope to meet them too. Maybe I can get Ken Masters to record a Games N Moorer intro.
I'm excited to say the least. Below is a video series called Real Talk, from EVO FGC featuring Justin Wong, and IFC Yipes, along with Evo Moment 37, featuring a young Justin, and Daigo, in a absolute insane round finish. This is just the beginning.
