Tekken 8‘s top player Arslan Ash shared his sentiments surrounding Evo‘s growth and how it has taken away from the event’s prestige.
“Evo used to feel like one legendary event where the whole world came to compete,” Arslan Ash tweeted. Now with three Evo’s (and four next year), it’s slowly losing that prestige.
“I miss the days when there was only one Evo, one champion, one moment that defined the year.”
The fighting game esports scene has always been seen as a bit more niche than titles like League of Legends and VALORANT. For that reason, it felt like all of the top players and fans from all over the world were finally getting the spotlight at the annual Evo event in Las Vegas, making it feel very special.
Seen as the biggest fighting game event of the year, the winners at Evo were often considered the best of the best. These victories have always been an emotional moment for the winners and their fans. Arslan Ash himself dropped down and prayed during a past victory. He’s now won five Evo Tekken championships, including two in Las Vegas and three in Japan.
For a long time, the Las Vegas-based Evo was seen as the main event, the culmination of a year of fighting game grinding and competing. But Evo has been growing, announcing the addition of France and Singapore earlier this year.
One fan responded to Arslan Ash’s concern: “But the world wouldn’t have known you if it weren’t for Evo Japan. I know the ‘prestige’ is lowered for pros. But the entire fighting game community gains from more tournaments.”
Another FGC member responded that this was exactly the issue: Quantity over quality. For a lot of people in the fighting game scene, it’s not about popularity. Some suggested that the additional Evo events should be considered lower tier, treating Evo in Las Vegas as VALORANT treats Champions compared to its Masters events.
With Evo fast-approaching, the fighting game community is gearing up for an intense bout of tournaments ranging from Street Fighter 6 to Tekken 8 to Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The number of attendees is not as large as previously expected, possibly due to rising costs of entry and the addition of other Evo events, but the amount of pros registered still promises plenty of stacked tournaments.
