Evo Unveils Details for the Largest Tournament in Esports History

LOS ANGELES (July 16, 2024) - Evolution Championship Series (known as Evo) presented by Chipotle®, the largest tournament in esports history, opens its doors on July 19-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The three-day fighting game tournament and culture festival attracts generations of players and thousands of spectators, while connecting them as a community and culture. Tickets are still available at Evo.gg. 

Evo is presented by Chipotle® for the second consecutive year. Chipotle will be fueling competitor round one pool qualifiers with free entrée cards and providing surprise co-branded Evo merchandise for those that make it through second-round pools across all official Evo titles. The Chipotle Community Lounge will feature Tekken 8 mini-brackets and collaborative merchandise giveaways alongside a space to catch all the Evo action. For those watching from home, “Chipotle Extra Match” segments will debut for the first time ever, increasing the number of matches featured on Evo’s broadcast - made possible for viewers thanks to Chipotle.

“Evo’s growth stems from focusing on what we believe the event should always extol - the spirit of competition and the community that has been actively supporting fighting games for over three decades,” said Rick Thiher, General Manager of Evo. “Evo intends to keep that focus front and center for generations of players to come.”

For the first time in Evo’s history, fans will be able to flow freely throughout the 600,000 sq ft Show Floor and Evo Arena. Evo’s convention space will expand from two to three days to allow fans to experience everything the giant show floor has to offer, including the largest arcade Evo has ever created and massive dedicated freeplay console areas. Evo will also have 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 makes a comeback with a grand prize of a trip to a future Evo event and will be hosted and judged by VampyBitme, Kaori Horiuchi and Hello Cute Life.

There will also be a whole host of panels, exhibitions and game reveals to check out. Fans will get to see the Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves exhibition, a Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact exhibition, a Live Rivals React with Justin Wong and IFC Yipes, panels from Capcom, Bandai Namco, Arc System Works, Cygames and SNK. Finally, Riot Games will return to continue to tease fans with its upcoming release of 2XKO.

“We continue to see tremendous growth at Evo every year across our competitor registrations, spectator tickets, brand partnerships, and show floor activations,” said Stuart Saw, CEO for RTS, who co-owns and manages Evo along with Sony Interactive Entertainment. “We’re proving that brands can be a meaningful part of the fighting game community as an actual community member rather than a one-time visitor.”

PlayStation® is Evo’s official provider for all tournament consoles and will feature a massive show floor activation highlighting the latest in gaming headset technology. PlayStation will be providing over 1,500 PULSE Elite™ wireless headsets to be used for group play and feature on the Evo Arena finals stage. Throughout the weekend, 

Azarus.io, Evo’s advertising technology partner, will be powering Evo’s interactive livestream integrations courtesy of its engaging stream overlay solution. 

AT&T will be returning to enhance the Evo fan experience by connecting fans with the stories of Evo’s Champions through interactive Evo trivia and giveaways. Lucky Evo arena spectators and fans watching from Twitch will also have the opportunity to win AT&T Golden Fight Sticks from Victrix and PlayStation Plus Premium codes via a classic Rock Paper Scissors battle with previous Evo Champions on-stage.

Qiddiya will build upon its popular Legends Lounge in partnership with Evo to celebrate the fighting game community’s greatest players. On-site fans will have access to unique Legends Lounge swag and enjoy meet & greets, Beat-a-Pro where fans can compete against their favorite pros and exhibition matches featuring Legends such as Daigo “The Beast” Umehara, Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique, Saul Leonardo "MenaRD" Mena II, and Justin “JWong” Wong.

Crunchyroll is back with a whole new Evo experience for the FGC with a special Saturday night showing of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie in the Evo arena immediately following the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Top 6 finals. The movie will be free for Saturday attendees. Crunchyroll Premium Members will also benefit from a 5% discount on all Evo merchandise simply by showing their Digital Membership card at Evo’s showfloor store.

Zenni, the Official Eyewear of Evo, has launched the first phase of the Evo x Zenni collection which can be found online at zennigaming.com and, for those attending the event in person, exclusive bundles are available at the Evo Merchandise Store. Keep an eye out for a behind-the-scenes look at the Top 6 matches over the weekend with Zenni’s Getting Focused segments, with more to come. Kizik returns for its second year launching a limited-edition Evo x Kizik Milan collab sneaker. Evo attendees can order this exclusive hands-free sneaker at the Kizik booth or online starting the weekend of the event. Displate and Evo will release an exclusive special commemorative Displate poster to celebrate Evo’s history. Limited quantities of metal posters from Displate will be available both onsite and online at displate.com/evo2024. Use the code “EVO” at checkout to get a unique discount.

Elevate your Evo experience with Red Bull Best Seats In The House. On Saturday and Sunday, Red Bull will surprise select fans in the Arena with upgraded, top-tier seating to Evo 2024 final matches. Sit at the heart of the action and enjoy a cold can of Red Bull during this VIP experience. Razer is returning to Evo this year and will be outfitting six show floor competition stages with their latest line of esports headsets, BlackShark V2. Fans can also swing by their booth to shop for brand new Evo-exclusive gear, including a special edition of the all-button arcade controller, Razer Kitsune.

Created in 2002, Evo unites fighting game titles from multiple publishers that reflect the spirit of the fighting game community. This edition of Evo welcomes 10,224 registered players from 63 countries with storied competitors in the community looking to keep their glory while hopeful newcomers look to steal their spotlight.