The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an annual

esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

event that focuses exclusively on

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

s. The

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

s are completely

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

and use the

double elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...

format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, most notably from Japan. The first Evolution was originally held as a ''

Super Street Fighter II Turbo ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' is a fighting game released for the arcade game, arcades by Capcom in Japan on February 23, 1994, in North America on February 23 and March 26, 1994 (beta) and in Europe in March 1994 (beta). It is the fifth ins ...

'' and ''

Street Fighter Alpha 2 ''Street Fighter Alpha 2'', known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1996 in video gaming, 1996 fighting game originally released for the CP System II, CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a Video game remake, remake to ...

'' tournament called the

Battle by the Bay B3: Battle by the Bay, the B4 Championships, and the B5 Championships were the first three instances of the open fighting game event that is now known as the annual Evolution Championship Series. B3 was created by Tom and Tony Cannon, Joey Cuellar ...

. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the Southern Nevada, southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Stat ...

since 2005. As of 2021, the event is jointly owned by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

and the Endeavor esports venture RTS.

History

Evo was founded by Tom Cannon, also known for his work on Shoryuken.com, a fighting game website. The tournament started as "Battle by the Bay", a 40-man ''

'' and ''

'' tournament in 1996 in

Sunnyvale Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The event eventually moved to its recurring venue in the

. The event changed its name to Evolution Championship Series, or EVO for short, in 2002. Over time, the tournament grew, recording over one thousand participants in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Originally the tournament used

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

s, but in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

the decision was made to move all games over to their

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

versions, to a large amount of controversy. During the transition to games on the seventh generation consoles, most games were played on a

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, though Evo 2014 ran most games on the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

. Aside from the official tournaments, there is also a "BYOC" ("bring your own console") area in which many different games are played and side tournaments are held.

1996–2003: Tournament beginnings and re-branding

B3: Battle by the Bay was organized by Tom "inkblot" Cannon, Tony "Ponder" Cannon, Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar, and Seth "S-Kill" Killian, and held in the

Golfland Golfland Entertainment Centers are a chain of family amusement centers, miniature golf courses, and water parks located in California and Arizona. The company was founded in 1953. Locations *"Golfland" in Milpitas, California (1199 Jacklin Road, ...

arcade hall in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nort ...

. The tournament had 40 contenders mostly from the United States, though B3 also featured players from Canada and Kuwait. B3 featured a ''

'' and ''

'' tournament. The B4 ''Street Fighter'' Championships were held on July 15–16, 2000, in

Folsom, California Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is commonly known for Folsom State Prison, the song "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, as well as for Folsom Lake. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 census. Folsom is pa ...

. B4 introduced several new Capcom fighting games to the roster: ''

Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998. It is the third and final installment in the '' Street Fighter Alpha'' sub-series, ...

'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', and '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes''. The newly released ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' was the first non-''Street Fighter'' game to be included, and a precedent for the tournament to branch out to other games. The ''Capcom Versus'' series has since had a large presence in the Battle of the Bay and Evolution Championship Series events. Held in August 2001 in

, the B5 Championships was attended by a much larger international crowd, particularly from Japan. '' Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000'' made its introduction in the tournament roster at B5, and ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' was again a headliner of the event, being described by

TechTV TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. ...

as "the hottest arcade fighting game of the season." In 2002, the event became formally known as its current name, "Evo". Evo 2002 took place on August 9, 2002, at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

2004–08: Change to consoles, Moment 37 and EVO Circuit

Evo 2004 took place at

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the '' name'' section of this article for more info ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

from July 29 to August 1. The tournament amassed approximately 700 competitors from over 30 countries to compete in over nine different games. The games featured included ''

'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''

Capcom vs. SNK 2 ''Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001'', known in Japan as , is the sequel to the fighting game ''Capcom vs. SNK''. It was originally released on NAOMI hardware in arcades. As in the original, players select a team of fighters from vario ...

'', '' Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution'', ''

Guilty Gear XX ''Guilty Gear X2'', also known as and subtitled ''The Midnight Carnival'' in Japan, is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works and published by Sammy Studios. The third main installment of the ''Guilty Gear'' series, ''Guilty Gear X2'' fu ...

'', ''

Soulcalibur II is a 2002 fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco and the third installment in the ''Soulcalibur'' series of weapon-based fighting games. It is the sequel to ''Soulcalibur'', which was released in July 1998. Originally in ...

'', ''

Tekken 4 is a fighting video game developed and published by Namco as the fourth main and fifth installment in the ''Tekken'' series, following the release of the non-canon crossover titled ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' in 1999. It was released as an arcade g ...

'', and ''

Tekken Tag Tournament is a spin-off of Namco's ''Tekken'' fighting game series. It is the fourth installment in the ''Tekken'' fighting game series. ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' was released as an arcade game in 1999, before becoming a North American and European launch ...

''. Evo 2004 used home consoles for most of their tournament games instead of arcade cabinets, with the only exception being ''3rd Strike'' which used the more traditional arcade cabinets. Evo 2004 was the birthplace of " Evo Moment #37". During the ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'' tournament,

Daigo Umehara is a Japanese arcade fighting video game player. He specializes in 2D arcade fighting games, mainly those released by Capcom. Known as "Daigo" or "The Beast" in the West and or "Ume" in Japan, Daigo is one of the world's most famous ''Street Fig ...

(playing as

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

), while facing

Justin Wong Justin Wong, occasionally shortened to just Jwong, is a formerly American and now Canadian professional fighting game player. Wong has won more EVO titles than anyone else with nine tournaments won: seven for '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of ...

(using

Chun-Li is a fictional character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' video game series. The first ever female playable character to appear in a fighting game to gain mainstream recognition, she first appeared in ''Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' in 1 ...

), successfully parried one of Chun-Li's "Super Moves" while having very little health left and then countered with his own, winning the match. This highlight became highly influential within the fighting game community. 2005 was the first year Evo was held at the

Green Valley Ranch Green Valley Ranch is a hotel and casino located within the eponymous community in Henderson, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos, and includes a casino. The resort was initially proposed by American Nevada Corporation, which rec ...

casino and hotel in Las Vegas. Evo 2006 took place at the

Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino Red Rock Resort is a hotel and casino in Summerlin South, Nevada, located in the Las Vegas Valley. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos on located in the Downtown Summerlin neighborhood. It is Station Casinos' flagship property, and the co ...

in Las Vegas. 2006 was the first year that

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

gave its official, public support of the Evolution tournaments. Traditionally, Evo has only included fighting games, but in 2006 it included ''

Mario Kart DS ''Mario Kart DS'' is a 2005 kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD Group No. 1 and published by Nintendo. It was released for the Nintendo DS handheld game console in November 2005 in North America, Europe, and Australia, and on Dece ...

'' in its lineup. The other games featured were ''

Dead or Alive 4 is a 2005 fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox 360. It is the fourth main entry in the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting series. The story of the game focuses on the continuing war between the Mugen Tenshin N ...

'', ''

Guilty Gear XX Slash ''Guilty Gear X2'' (released as ''Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival'' in Japan) is a 2D fighting video game developed by Arc System Works, and published by Sammy Studios. First released on May 23, 2002, for the arcades, in Japan, it was later ...

'', and ''

Hyper Street Fighter II is a fighting game by Capcom that was originally released for the arcade and PlayStation 2 in 2003 in Japan and in 2004 in North America and Asia. Released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the ''Street Fighter'' series, ''Hyper Street Fi ...

''. Evo 2007, officially called Evo World 2007, took place from August 24 to 26 at the Green Valley Ranch, in Las Vegas. Throughout the year there were several other tournaments held throughout the US bearing the Evo name. The game roster had eight games, ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'', ''Virtua Fighter 5'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Street Fighter II Turbo'', ''Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection'', '' Guilty Gear XX Λ Core'', and ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. Evo 2008 took place at the

Tropicana Las Vegas The Tropicana Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Bally's Corporation, on land leased from Gaming and Leisure Properties. It offers 1,467 rooms, a gaming floor, and of convention ...

on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

. from August 8 to 10. The tournament would feature six games within its official roster: ''

'', '' Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''

Super Smash Bros. Brawl ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 List of crossovers in video games, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the Super Smash Bros., ''Super Smash ...

'', ''

'', and '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2''. The ''Brawl'' tournament was widely criticized for its ruleset, which allowed items on and saw a relatively unknown player defeat

Ken Hoang Ken Hoang (born October 10, 1985), also known as SephirothKen or Liquid`Ken, is an American professional ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' player and television personality. Hoang was widely considered the most dominant ''Melee'' player in the world ...

. Evo 2008 also allowed attendees a preview of '' BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger'', ''

Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since '' Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. The coin-operated arcade game version wa ...

'', ''

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'' is a two dimensional fighting game released using the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade download services. A physical copy of the game was later released as part of ''Capcom Digital Collection''. It ...

'', and ''

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom ''Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'' is a crossover fighting game developed by Eighting and published by Capcom. The game features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and various anime series produced by Tatsunoko Produc ...

2009–13: ''Street Fighter IV'', live streams, and record numbers

Evo 2009 took place on July 17 to 19. Held at the Rio Convention Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the tournament itself would feature six games on its official roster: ''

Soulcalibur IV is the sixth installment in the ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games, released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2008. It features greatly improved graphics over the previous title, and includes three guest characters from the ''Star War ...

'', ''Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core'', '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', '' Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''

'' and ''

''. Notably, the newly released ''Street Fighter IV'' increased Evo attendance by a considerable margin, and the tournament for it alone boasted more than 1000 participants, almost three times that of the tournaments for the other games. Evo 2010, held at

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

from July 9, 2010 through July 11, 2010 had a massive number of competitors, with ''Super Street Fighter IV'' amassing approximately 1,800 players to duel for a $20,000 guaranteed prize pot. Most notable in this EVO was Justin Wong cementing his dominance in ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'' in its proverbial

swan song The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful so ...

, defeating the champion of the previous year, Sanford Kelly. Also notable was Wong failing to make the top 8 in ''Super Street Fighter IV'', falling victim first to Vance "Vangief" Wu, and soon after to Taiwanese player Bruce "GamerBee" Hsiang. '' Melty Blood: Actress Again'' was included after a poll on Shoryuken.com to decide on the final game of the tournament, beating out ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike'', ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'', ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2'', ''Soulcalibur IV'', and ''

The King of Fighters XII (''KOF XII'') is the twelfth installment of ''The King of Fighters'' series of fighting games developed and published by SNK Playmore. The game was originally released in Japan in April 2009 for arcades. Home versions of the title for Xbox 360 and ...

''. '' BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger'' was to be included, but after a majority of the community moved on to '' BlazBlue: Continuum Shift'', the decision was made to replace it with ''Marvel vs. Capcom 2''. Also notable was G4's limited coverage of the event, even offering ''

X-Play ''Xplay'' (previously ''GameSpot TV'' and ''Extended Play'') is a TV program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, airs on '' G4'' in the United States and had aired on ''G4 Canada'' in Canada (and briefly on YT ...

'' host

Adam Sessler Adam Sessler (born August 29, 1973) is an American video game journalist, television personality and consultant. He is best known as the host for the video game review series ''Xplay'' and the editor-in-chief for G4 (U.S. TV channel), G4's video ...

for commentary of the ''Super Street Fighter IV'' finals. EVO 2011 Street Fighter cosplayers

For Evo 2011, a tournament season was announced in which players could earn ranking points at one of eight tournaments. It took place at the

Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino The Rio is a hotel and casino near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Dreamscape Companies LLC and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It includes a casino and 2,520 suites. It features a Brazilian theme based ...

from July 29 to 31, utilizing a ballroom. All 50 states of the U.S. were represented, as well as 44 additional countries. Its livestream was watched by over 2 million unique viewers on

UStream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...

over the course of the event. In attendance was Street Fighter series producer Ono Yoshinori, who announced a free balance patch for ''Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition''. ''

Tekken is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations. The ...

'' series producer Katsuhiro Harada was also on hand to show new mechanics for ''

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 ''Tekken Tag Tournament 2'' is a sequel to the ''Tekken'' fighting game series. It was released for the arcades in September 2011. It received an update, subtitled ''Unlimited'', on March 2012. A console version based on the update was release ...

'' and ''

Soulcalibur V is a fighting video game developed and released by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. The sixth main installment in Namco's ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games, ''Soulcalibur V'' is the follow-up to ''Soulcalibur ...

''. Other unreleased games shown were ''

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom in collaboration with Eighting. It is an updated version of '' Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds''. The game features characters from both Capcom's video game franchises and comic book se ...

'', ''

King of Fighters XIII ''(KOF XIII)'' is a fighting game in ''The King of Fighters'' series, developed and published by SNK Playmore originally in 2010. ''King of Fighters XIII'' was released for Japanese arcades on July 14, 2010, while ports for the Xbox 360 and Play ...

'', ''

Skullgirls ''Skullgirls'' is a 2D fighting game developed by Reverge Labs and published by Autumn Games. In ''Skullgirls'', players fight each other with teams of one, two, or three characters, attempting to knock out their opponents or have the most cumul ...

'' and ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition''. A ''Skullgirls'' side tournament was held in which the winner received a one-of-a-kind Skullgirls-themed arcade stick. Media outlets G4,

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

and

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

were all present to cover the event. Evo 2012 took place July 6 to 8, 2012, at

, Las Vegas. On January 3, Joey Cuellar announced that Evo 2012 would have 6 main tournament games, '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)'', ''

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'', ''

The King of Fighters XIII ''(KOF XIII)'' is a fighting game in ''The King of Fighters'' series, developed and published by SNK Playmore originally in 2010. ''King of Fighters XIII'' was released for Japanese arcades on July 14, 2010, while ports for the Xbox 360 and Play ...

'' and ''

Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Microsoft Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game feature ...

''. The tournament series from the previous year returned, featuring seeding points for all six games in 17 events all across the world. Evo 2013 was announced on December 2, 2012. It was held on July 12–14 at

Paris Las Vegas Paris Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment and has a 95,263 square-foot casino with over 1,700 slot machines. The theme is the city of Paris; it includes a hal ...

. On January 8, Joey Cuellar announced that EVO 2013 would have eight main tournament games, with the first seven revealed being ''

'', '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition (Version 2012)'', ''

'', ''

'', '' Street Fighter X Tekken (Version 2013)'', ''

'', and ''

Persona 4 Arena ''Persona 4 Arena'' is a fighting video game co-developed by Atlus and Arc System Works for arcades, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360; the game is a spin-off from the ''Persona'' series, itself part of the larger ''Megami Tensei'' franchise. The game w ...

''. The eighth game was voted on by players via online donations, all proceeds of which went to the

Breast Cancer Research Foundation The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) is an independent, not-for-profit organization which has raised $569.4 million to support clinical and translational research on breast cancer at medical institutions in the United States and abroad. BC ...

. The eventual winner of the poll was ''

Super Smash Bros. Melee ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' is a 2001 Fictional crossover, crossover fighting game, fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. I ...

'' with $94,683 raised for that game, while the total amount of donations was $225,744.

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. ...

initially sent a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

letter to cancel the streaming of ''Melee'' matches, although after popular backlash a live stream was ultimately allowed to be carried out as planned. On May 7, 2013, it was announced that '' Injustice: Gods Among Us'' would be a main tournament game, thus expanding the game roster from eight to nine.

2014–19: ''Smash'' boom and international growth

Evo 2014 was announced on September 15, 2013. It was held on July 11–13, 2014 at the

Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel, casino, and timeshare resort in Winchester, Nevada. Located near the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, it is owned by Westgate Resorts. It opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, and was ...

On February 6, 2014, Cuellar announced that Evo 2014 would include '' BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', ''Injustice: Gods Among Us'', ''The King of Fighters XIII'', ''

Killer Instinct ''Killer Instinct'' is a series of fighting video games originally created by Rare and published by Midway, Nintendo, and Microsoft Studios. The original ''Killer Instinct'' was released for arcades in 1994; the game was then released for t ...

'', and ''

Ultra Street Fighter IV is a 2008 fighting game published by Capcom, who also co-developed the game with Dimps. It was the first original main entry in the series since ''Street Fighter III'' in 1997, a hiatus of eleven years. The coin-operated arcade game version was ...

'' while also mentioning that discussions were ongoing with Nintendo on the possible inclusion of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''. ''Melee'' was eventually officially added to the roster with Nintendo's approval. ''

'' was also later added to the roster. Evo 2015 took place on July 17–19, 2015 at the Bally's /

Casino. On January 20, 2015, Cuellar announced that Evo 2015 would include '' Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-'', ''

'', ''

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and (colloquially and collectively referred to as ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' or ''Smash 4'') is a group of two 2014 crossover fighting video games developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS a ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat X ''Mortal Kombat X'' is a 2015 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the tenth main installment in the ''Mortal Komba ...

'', ''

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'' is a fighting game, fighting video game co-developed by Atlus and Arc System Works. It was released for arcade game, arcades in 2013, and for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014 by Atlus in Japan and North America and b ...

'', ''

'', and ''

Tekken 7 is a fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is the seventh main and ninth overall installment in the ''Tekken '' series. ''Tekken 7'' was released to arcades in March 2015. An updated arcade version, ''Tekken 7 ...

''. While EVO 2015 initially was supposed to run on the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

version for ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', the tournament instead used the

version, due to a large number of bugs and glitches found by players in the newly released port. Cuellar also confirmed that EVO 2015 would use the technically outdated build of ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'' on

. On May 25, Cuellar confirmed that both ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' surpassed 1,500 entrants each. Cuellar later confirmed that ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' surpassed 2,000 entrants. EVO 2015 also acted as a

Capcom Cup Capcom Cup is an annual fighting game tournament specifically focused on the ''Street Fighter'' series. The event's first incarnation was in 2013 which featured '' Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition'' version 2012, ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capc ...

qualifier for ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', as well as a Killer Instinct World Cup qualifier for ''Killer Instinct'', with both games receiving respective bonus pots of $50,000 from

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and

Iron Galaxy Iron Galaxy Studios, LLC is an American video game developer studio founded on August 14, 2008, and based in Chicago, Illinois, with a second studio in Orlando, Florida that was opened in 2012 and a third studio in Austin, Texas. Iron Galaxy ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

respectively. NetherRealm and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

have also donated $50K towards the bonus pot for ''Mortal Kombat X'', due to the success of the Blue Steel Sub-Zero skin. In addition,

Atlus is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for video game series such as ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona'', ''Etrian Odyssey'' and ''Trau ...

has donated $10K towards the bonus pot for ''Persona 4 Arena Ultimax'', while

Arc System Works , commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...

and

Aksys Games Aksys Games Localization, Inc. is a video game publisher that specializes in translating and localizing Japanese video games for English-speaking markets. It was founded by Akibo Shieh in 2006. Some of its clients include Bandai Namco Games, Xs ...

donated the same amount to the bonus pot for ''Guilty Gear Xrd''.

Bandai Namco also known as the Bandai Namco Group and generally Bandai Namco, is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, formed from the merger of Bandai and Namco on S ...

has announced that they have provided a $30K bonus pot for ''Tekken 7'' as well as providing all competitors in said game an exclusive T-shirt featuring franchise veteran

Lili ''Lili'' is a 1953 American film released by MGM. It stars Leslie Caron as a touchingly naïve French girl whose emotional relationship with a carnival puppeteer is conducted through the medium of four puppets. The film won the Academy Award for ...

and

Tekken Revolution was a free-to-play fighting video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games. It was released on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store in June 2013. It is the first game in the ''Tekken'' franchise to be made free-to-play and the f ...

newcomer

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines, E ...

Evo 2016 took place from July 15–17 at the

Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center (commonly referred to as LVCC) is a convention center in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. As one of the largest convention centers in the world, it h ...

, while Sunday finals took take place at the

Mandalay Bay Events Center The Michelob Ultra Arena, formerly the Mandalay Bay Events Center, is a 12,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts In ...

. The tournament featured ''

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- is a fighting video game sub-series by Arc System Works and part of the ''Guilty Gear'' series. ''Guilty Gear Xrd'' was developed using Unreal Engine 3, with cel-shaded graphics in place of the series traditional hand drawn sprites. Following th ...

'', ''

Street Fighter V ''Street Fighter V'' is a fighting game developed by Capcom and Dimps and published by Capcom for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows, Windows in 2016. An Arcade game, arcade version exclusive to Japan was released by Taito in 2019. Similar to th ...

'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', '' Mortal Kombat XL'', ''

Pokkén Tournament is a fighting game, fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game combines gameplay elements from Bandai Namco's ''Tekken'' series and other fighting games, such as 3D and 2D movement, with characters from the ''Pokémon' ...

'', ''

'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', and '' Tekken 7: Fated Retribution''. The tournaments for ''Street Fighter V'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-'', ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', and ''Mortal Kombat XL'' finished on Sunday. The finals for ''Street Fighter V'' was broadcast live on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

and live coverage of the tournament was available through ESPN's

WatchESPN WatchESPN was a branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Cor ...

service, in addition to the tournament's regular

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...

streams. Joey Cuellar has announced record breaking numbers which includes ''

'' reaching more than 5,000 entrants, Smash 4 and

Melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

each reaching more than 2,000; Pokkén reaching more than 1,000 entrants while other games either increased or decreased. Like EVO 2015's Ultra Street Fighter IV finals,

and

have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards

's prize pool and is also a

Capcom Pro Tour The Capcom Pro Tour is a series of international fighting game tournaments sponsored by video game developer Capcom. The Pro Tour culminates in the annual Capcom Cup, a single-day tournament held in the San Francisco Bay Area. 2014 Capcom Cup 20 ...

qualifier.

The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, ''Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video game s ...

has announced a $10,000 bonus pot towards

's prize pool and is a Pokkén Tournament Championship Series qualifier, with 1st and 2nd place being able to qualify for the finals. As with EVO 2015, NetherRealm and

have provided a $50,000 bonus pot towards Mortal Kombat XL's prize pool. ''Killer Instinct'' will be receiving a $15,000 bonus pot as part of the KI Ultra Tour funding. On July 11,

announced a $10,000 bonus pot towards

's prize pool. Evo 2017 took place on July 14 to 16 with the entire event being held at the

Mandalay Bay Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circus ...

resort. The tournament featured '' Guilty Gear Xrd REV2'', '' BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', ''

Injustice 2 ''Injustice 2'' is a 2017 fighting game, fighting video game it is the sequel to 2013's ''Injustice: Gods Among Us'' and is the second installment in the ''Injustice (franchise), Injustice'' franchise based upon the DC Universe. It is developed ...

'', ''Street Fighter V'', ''Tekken 7'', ''

The King of Fighters XIV ''(KOF XIV)'' is a 2016 Japanese fighting game. Part of SNK's franchise ''The King of Fighters'' (''KOF'') series, with this installment being published by Atlus USA in North America and Deep Silver in Europe. After the 13th installment that ...

'', and ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3''. The ninth game was chosen by a donation drive which all of the funds have gone towards Make-A-Wish International. ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' was the winning game with ''Pokkén Tournament'' being the runner-up. Other games in contention were '' Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'', ''

ARMS Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

'', ''Mortal Kombat XL'', '' Nidhogg'', ''

Windjammers A windjammer is a commercial sailing ship with multiple masts that may be square rigged, or fore-and-aft rigged, or a combination of the two. The informal term "windjammer" arose during the transition from the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam ...

'', ''Killer Instinct'', and ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo''. The Sunday finals included ''Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'' (as the opening game), ''BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''Tekken 7'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', and ''Street Fighter V''. Upon the victory of ''UMvC3'', Cuellar announced that Evo 2017 would be running the event with the

version being used. Evo 2018 took place on August 3 to 5 with the entire event being held at the

resort. The tournament featured ''Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', '' BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle'', ''Guilty Gear Xrd REV2'', ''Injustice 2'', and ''

Dragon Ball FighterZ ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'' (pronounced "fighters") is a 2.5D fighting game, developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Micr ...

''. Evo 2019 took place on August 2 to 4 with the entire event being held at the

resort. The tournament featured ''Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat 11 ''Mortal Kombat 11'' is a 2019 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the eleventh main installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise and a sequel to 2015's ''Mortal Ko ...

'', ''

Soulcalibur VI ''Soulcalibur VI'' is a fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Dimps and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows in 2018. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Soulcalibur' ...

'', '' Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late t', ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'', ''BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle'', and ''

Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place in ...

''.

2020–present: COVID-19 cancellation and new ownership

Evo 2020 was to have taken place from July 31 to August 2 at the

resort. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the physical event had been cancelled, with all event and hotel reservations to be refunded. Online tournament events had been scheduled from July 4 to August 2 as replacement activities. However, at the start of July 2020, charges of sexual misconduct were leveled at EVO CEO Joey Cuellar. The EVO board released Cuellar on July 2 and replaced him with Tony Cannon as interim CEO but by then, several publishers including Capcom, Bandai Namco, NetherRealm, and Mane6 had decided to pull out from the event. The EVO board decided to cancel the event, refund those tickets and donate the remaining funds to

Project HOPE Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is an international global health and humanitarian aid non-governmental organization founded in the United States in 1958. Project HOPE works in five main areas: disasters and health cri ...

. On March 18, 2021, it was announced that Evo had been acquired by a joint venture between

and the talent agency Endeavor (RTS). It was concurrently announced that Evo Online 2021 will be held August 6–8 and August 13–15, 2021, and feature ''

Guilty Gear Strive is a fighting game, fighting video game developed and published by Arc System Works. It is the seventh mainline installment of the ''Guilty Gear'' series, and the 25th overall. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Microsoft ...

,'' ''Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate,'' ''Street Fighter V: Champion Edition'', ''Tekken 7'', and '' Skullgirls: 2nd Encore''. Evo stated that the Sony ownership of the competition will not affect its ability to include events for non-PlayStation games, although all games in the 2021 lineup are either available on, or console-exclusive to, PlayStation. Evo 2022 took place from August 5 to 7 at the

resort. The event is the first since 2019 to take place in-person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament featured ''Dragon Ball FighterZ'', '' Granblue Fantasy: Versus'', ''Guilty Gear Strive'', ''

The King of Fighters XV , also called ''KOF XV'', is a fighting game developed by SNK. It was released on February 17, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. This is also the first game in ''The King of Fighters'' series created using Unreal ...

'', '' Melty Blood: Type Lumina'', ''Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate'', ''Skullgirls: 2nd Encore'', ''Street Fighter V: Champion Edition'', and ''Tekken 7''.

Evo Japan

In 2010, the Evolution Championship organizers announced an official spin-off to the tournament series called "Evo vs Godsgarden", to be held in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

the following year. However, the tournament was called off following the Tohoku earthquake and postponed indefinitely. During a Nico Nico livestream following Evo 2013, Cuellar stated that he was still interested in holding a Japan-based tournament. It was announced at Evo 2016 that a separate event simply titled "Evo Japan" is to be held in Japan. Japanese media companies Aetas, Hearts United Group, and Shochiku Broadcasting together invested a total of US$1 million into the event. During a presentation at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

in 2016, the Evolution organizers announced that the tournament is to be held in January 2018, while some form of "pre-tournament" took place in 2017. At Evo 2017, the

Evo Japan 2018 The 2018 Japanese Evolution Championship Series, commonly referred to as Evo Japan 2018, was a fighting game event held in Tokyo, Japan on January 26–28. As mentioned in its namesake, the event was the first Evo event to take place in Japan an ...

lineup was revealed to consist of ''

'', '' Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2'', ''

'', ''

'', '' BlazBlue: Central Fiction'', ''

'', and ''

''; the event took place from January 26 to 28. The lineup is known to emphasize titles that are popular in Japan, as titles such as ''

'', ''

'', and '' Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite'' are notably absent mostly due to their lack of popularity in the region. Despite the 7,000 entrants, Evo Japan ended up reporting a $1.13m loss according to financial reports by Hearts United Group. Evo Japan 2019 was held in February 2019. In October 2019, it was revealed that ''

'' would be the headlining game for ''Evo Japan 2020''. Following EVO 2022, the EVO Japan 2023 tournament was unveiled. This will have a lineup of ''

'', ''Street Fighter V'', ''Tekken 7'', and ''King of Fighters XV''''.'' The event will take place in March 2023.

Champions

References

External links

* {{Fighting game community 1996 establishments in California Annual events in Nevada Nintendo Nintendo events Recurring events established in 1996 Super Smash Bros. tournaments 2021 mergers and acquisitions Sony Interactive Entertainment Joint ventures