Evo Reveals International Expansion and Inaugural Evo Awards

LAS VEGAS (July 21, 2024) - Evolution Championship Series (known as Evo), presented by Chipotle®, announced during the conclusion of its historic event in Las Vegas that it will be expanding globally with new destinations to France in October 2025 and Singapore in 2026, along with a return to Japan on May 9-11, 2025 and Las Vegas on August 1-3, 2025. The community also learned of the unveiling of the inaugural Evo Awards, powered by Qiddiya, that will take place in 2025 in Los Angeles to celebrate the icons of the fighting game community and the future trailblazers.

“We’re building Evo in the direction of our fans and are excited to blend what we do best with what our global communities do best. We have strategically grown every year to support a new chapter of international expansion,” said Stuart Saw, CEO for RTS, who co-owns and manages Evo along with Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Evo represents a celebration of our community and culture, so it’s incredibly important we’re able to bring Evo to the fans where they are. It’s also a key moment for our brand partners as well to help support their global presence.”

“We are following the passion of our fans and turning Evo itself into a world warrior, because we want our events to be as accessible as the fighting game community that inspires them,” said Rick Thiher, General Manager of Evo. “Evo has grown into a rallying point for a culture that we believe everyone who’s a fighting game fan is already inherently a part of.”

The three-day fighting game tournament and culture festival attracted generations of players and thousands of spectators, while connecting them as a community and culture. With more  more than 600,000 sq ft for the Show Floor and an 8,500-seat Evo Arena, fans chose their own adventure, including the largest arcade Evo has ever created and massive dedicated freeplay console areas, the return of the Artist Alley (featuring over 100 fighting game focused artists), and debuting for the first time, Evo’s Art Gallery, featuring official works from decades of fighting games, game-inspired photo ops, and the Beyond the Arcade Stick Museum.

The Evo Cosplay Competition also made a comeback with Lashonne “Chonibu” Wells from Seattle winning a grand prize trip to a future Evo event. Attendees enjoyed the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves exhibition, a Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact exhibition and panels from Capcom, Bandai Namco, Arc System Works, Cygames and SNK, while Riot Games continued to tease fans with its upcoming release of 2XKO.

Evo also awarded their first ever Impact Awards to fighting game icons Justin “JWong” Wong and Daigo “The Beast” Umehara for their commitments in growing the community over the past two decades. Both JWong and Daigo are most famous for their “Evo Moment 37” in an epic throwdown during the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike semifinal match held at Evo 2004.

The Clark County Commission proclaimed July 21 as “Evo GRAND Commemoration Day,” which was signed by all seven commissioners. Last year, Evo was presented with a Key to the Las Vegas Strip, and Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo proclaimed August 6, 2023, as Evo Day in the state of Nevada.

Chipotle returned as presenting sponsor along with PlayStation®, Azarus.io, AT&T, Qiddiya, Crunchyroll, Zenni, Kizik, Displate, Red Bull, and Razer.

The event featured 10,244 competitors becoming the largest tournament in esports history and crowned eight new champions to etch their greatness into the fighting game lore, including:

Street Fighter 6 (Capcom) - 2nd appearance at Evo

Already being heralded as another Evo historic match, Flyquest’s Victor “Punk” Woodley was crowned the Street Fighter 6 Evo Champion as the sell-out crowd chanted, “You Deserve This!” during the trophy ceremony. United Arab Emirates’ Adel “Big Bird” Anouche fought resiliently to force a Grand Final reset, but Punk came out on top with a 3-2 victory. Street Fighter 6 featured the largest competitor pool with 5,265.

TEKKEN 8 (Bandai Namco Entertainment) - 1st appearance at Evo

Pakistan’s Arslan “Arslan Ash” Ash claimed the TEKKEN 8 title after defeating fellow countryman Atif “ATIF” Butt in a thrilling 3-2 battle. Ash became a five-time Evo champion and won the title in 2023 in Tekken 7 making him a back-to-back  champion. He fought his way to the top among 4,639 competitors which represented the largest bracket in franchise history.

Guilty Gear -Strive- - (Arc System Works) - 3rd appearance at Evo

Flyquest’s Shamar “Nitro” Hinds from the United States etched his name in history as this year’s Guilty Gear -Strive- Evo Champion against Fujihara “tatuma” Yuya from Japan in a Grand Final Reset 3-2 victory. This marks Nitro’s first ever Evo championship win in this third Evo and raised his trophy among the 2,054 competitors in the Guilty Gear pool.

Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (Cygames) - 1st appearance at Evo

In the largest bracket in franchise history with 1,377 competitors, Aaron “AARONDAMAC” Godinez of the United States, completed his run to a title defeating Kazuma “Tororo” Sugawara, 3-2. The 21-year-old Richmond, California native captured his first Evo title in his second appearance in the tournament.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Capcom) - 8th appearance at Evo

Jo "MOV" Egami from Japan defeated Issei “Issei” Suzuki, who lives in the United States, in a Grand Final Reset, 3-2. MOV won the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Global Tournament Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike in 2012. Making its debut in 2003, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike returned after a 15 year break as the second throwback game ever after last year’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and attracted 1,101 competitors – surpassing 1,000 entrants for the first time and becoming the largest bracket in the title’s history.

Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes (Arc System Works) - 1st appearance at Evo

In an exciting 3-2 Grand Final, Japan’s Masaki “Senaru” Inoue fought back United Kingdom’s Mohammad Hussein “Mo.Sin” Hazime, who competed in his first Evo as runner-up.  Senaru, who hoisted the trophy after battling among 785 competitors in the tournament, found redemption after missing the Top 6 in Evo Japan in April.

Mortal Kombat 1 (Warner Bros. Games) - 1st appearance at Evo

American Dominique “SonicFox” McLean made Evo history winning their 7th overall Evo title, moving them 2nd overall to Justin Wong. They pulled out a thriller 3-2 over Nicolás “NicoLas” Martínez from Chile in the Mortal Kombat 1 Grand Final.  SonicFox raised the trophy among the 645 competitors in the tournament and now holds titles for Injustice: Gods Among Us, Mortal Kombat X, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Mortal Kombat 11, Skullgirls and now Mortal Kombat 1.

THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV (SNK) - 3rd appearance at Evo

In a rematch from 2023, Zhuojun “Xiaohai” Zeng from China won back-to-back KOV XV Evo Las Vegas titles beating Taiwan’s ChiaHung “E.T.” Lin again in the Grand Final 3-0. The two are no strangers to one another, as E.T. beat Xiaohai in the Grand Final at Evo Japan 2024 earlier this year. Xiaohai fought his way to another title through 375 KOV XV competitors this year.