Today, PlayStation announced its surprise acquisition of the world’s largest fighting game tournament – Evolution Championship Series aka Evo. An annual esports event dedicated to the fighting game community, Evo jumped onto the scene 25 years ago in 1996. Due to concerns regarding the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Evo 2020 marked the first time organizers elected to cancel the fighting game tournament.
While plans for an online-centric event were scheduled, they, too, landed on the cutting room floor. In July 2020, sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against Evo CEO Joey Cuellar; fighting game developers such as Capcom and NetherRealm Studios quickly distanced themselves from the event and pulled their respective games from the online festivities. Though Evo took action in dismissing Cuellar and installing co-founder Tony Cannon in his stead, the die had been cast. Evo 2020 was canceled outright. The world’s longest-running fighting game tournament is primed to return this year, however, and with new leadership cheering it on. Still, it remains to be seen how the controversy surrounding Evo 2020 might affect the platform longterm.
Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment and a new esports venture known as RTS acquired Evo through a “joint venture esports partnership.” Evo co-founders Tony and Tom Cannon will remain involved in advisory roles to ensure Evo maintains its status as a “grassroots competitive platform.” Upon announcing the acquisition, the organizers also confirmed Evo’s return this year as Evo Online. The fully online competition takes place from August 6 to August 8 and August 13 to August 15. This year’s tournament will allow participants in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America to enter for free. Plus, several companies and their respective brands have already signed on, namely Tekken 7, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, Guilty Gear -Strive-, and MK11 Ultimate.
For fans pondering whether or not Smash will remain as part of the festivities going forward, Nintendo has issued a response (via IGN). In sending its best wishes to the show’s organizers on their new venture, a Nintendo representative said the company will “continue to assess Evo, and other opportunities, as we plan for future online and offline Super Smash Bros. tournament activity.”
Esports continue to experience rampant growth year after year. Since the fighting game genre counts as the dominant esport on console, Sony’s interest in such an acquisition makes good business sense. As noted by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, this may especially hold true if the hardware manufacturer can strategically position PlayStation as the go-to platform for competitive console gaming.
Considering the freshness of the news, there are still numerous questions that fans will want to have answered. Specifics are bound to surface in the coming months as Evo Online 2021 draws near.
Evo will return this year as Evo Online, an online-only competition penciled in for August 6 through August 8 and August 13 through August 15.
