EVO Would Like to Own Your Locals Too

After Saudi Arabian government acquired Evo, things haven't been quite the same. They quickly announced a fairly audacious plan to expand Evo far beyond its current scale, turning twice a year tournament into a global series in 9 different countries, ending with a World Championship event.

Many rightfully criticized the obvious attempt to just buy out the FGC and drown out other majors by forcing people to choose if they want to be in the Evo's system that's bursting with money, or support TOs who actually care about the community.

However, that wasn't the end of it, and recently Evo announced that they will be dedicating 1 million USD to sponsor local tournaments around the globe. TOs who want to get the support will be able to apply for it starting this Fall.

On the surface this might not seem like a big deal, but outside of extending Saudi Arabia's sportswashing program, this could have a disastrous impact on local scenes. You can never snuff out the FGC, but you can impede it by assimilating the local scene, interrupting the organic flow, and making grass-roots events compete with events funded with blood money.

Tekken scene is already on its way to experience this assimilation process, as the latest TWT grand finals are set to be a part of Evo Shanghai.

Realistically there isn't much that any individual can do about it. Best you can do is adding a -1 to Evo or Evo supported events, but there's not denying that FGC is full of people who care more about money and esports than community and the games.