Hiya!

It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the news with everything that’s happening in the world all at once. One of the biggest news stories from the fighting game world details how the Qiddiya, essentially a tourist location in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and backed by the country itself, purchased the EVO brand. It didn’t just get a piece of EVO. It owns it 100% lock, stock and barrel. A part of me isn’t really surprised as Qiddiya and Saudi Arabia has been making a big push towards eSports. Still, this is pretty big news but, after hearing it, I didn’t expect to really rock the boat anytime soon,

Boy, was I wrong!

Soon after the purchase, Qiddiya announced they were adding more EVO tournaments worldwide. We already have EVO Las Vegas, EVO Japan and EVO France. It seems they aren’t satisfied with just 3 EVO shows in a year. Not in the least as Qiddiya revealed they are going to have more EVO Events worldwide. Right now, they’ve announced a whopping 6 new locations, which are Singapore, Brazil, Morocco, China, the Middle East and Mexico.

There’s also the reveal of a new “special” tournament called the Fighting Game World Championship. Not many details as of yet regarding this new tournament but, from what I can surmise, this will have players participating in multiple fighting games to see who is actually the best at every fighting game and not just with something like, say, Street Fighter 6, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves or Tekken 8. No, they have to be the best in all of them and more. However, this is a topic for another time but I am intrigued by the premise.

Now, there is actually some positives with this new change of direction. Having more EVO events all around the world can be a good thing. For example, having an EVO event in a location such as Brazil and Mexico, areas, which are noted to have really good players, is nice. Although there are indeed pro fighting game players in these areas, a lot of them aren’t able to travel to the previously only 3 EVO shows in Las Vegas, Japan and France. Money is hard to come by and it would seem frivolous to spend your hard-earned cash to fly to a different country and stay in a ritzy hotel for several days. It’s just too expensive. So, having a “local” EVO is good for them.

Along with these new EVO tournaments all over the world, it looks like Qiddiya will also be more open to supporting local tournaments. On the surface, this is also good news. Not every fighting game tournament has the same prestige as EVO. There are other “smaller” fighting game tournaments, such as Frosty Faustings, the various DreamHack tournaments, CEO and many more. Hosting a tournament is expensive so these tournament organizers would definitely appreciate any help they can get.

With that being said, having 9 EVO shows happening throughout the year and with more supposedly to come in the future, that’s simply too many EVOs.

To sort of understand why this is my line of thinking, you have to look at the history of EVO way back when. EVO or EVO Las Vegas as it was called before, was the “Superbowl of Fighting Games”. It was the biggest and longest-running fighting game tournament with the best of the best flying in from all over the world to participate in a grueling 3-day tournament in different fighting games. This meant that, when you won EVO, you were thought to be the best in the world. Period. With the best of the best all under one roof, you could expect to see some of the hypest moments happening. Punk finally getting his redemption to win the Street Fighter 6 in 2024. The greatest rivalry in Dragon Ball FighterZ featuring SonixFox and Go1. Arslan Ash coming out of nowhere to dominate Tekken 7. EVO Moment #37. The list goes on and on and it all happened during the original EVO tournament in Las Vegas.

So, when they announced they were making an EVO Japan… everyone was actually okay with it. A lot of the best fighting game players are in Japan so it made sense. Then came EVO France and it was at this point where things already started to seem like they were diluting the EVO brand. The logistics of having an EVO in Europe worked logically. Europe is sandwiched beautifully between the USA and Japan so this was a happy medium location for those close by, such as the UK, to travel to. Still, this did start to make EVO tournaments not as prestigious. Remember, the original EVO was the Superbowl of Fighting Games. Can you have 3 Superbowls of Fighting Games then? How about 9 of them? How about more?

There are also other possible conflicts of interest with Qiddiya owning EVO outright as they also own SNK, the makers of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Historically, the “main event” in every EVO has been a Street Fighter game. Recently, Tekken 8 has been the final game to be shown at EVO Las Vegas. This makes sense as these are usually the games with the greatest number of entrants. Having them come on last as the “grand finale” of EVO means they would get a lot of views because, as mentioned, these are the most popular games.

Now, I like Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves fine. I just don’t think it’s as good as something more established as Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8. The game also is definitely not as popular as Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 right now. However, with Qiddiya owning EVO and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, there’s the outside chance they might be be biased and just make the game they own the main event to make it feel bigger. I’m not saying they’ll do that but, if they do, I also wouldn’t be surprised.

I also have an issue with EVO “helping” out local fighting game tournaments. Sure, it may seem like they’re only trying to lend a hand. However, doesn’t this also mean EVO is just expanding and eating up the smaller tournaments as well? Sure, they can be noted as primary sponsors but there’s the chance they might outright rebrand these smaller tournaments to be another EVO. All of a sudden, CEO gets a name change and will now be called EVO Florida. It’s certainly possible if CEO wants to not get crushed by the bigger EVO!

Of course, I could be all wrong and having all of these EVOs might actually be a good thing, with every one of them holding some sort of prestige to them. However, I just don’t think these other EVO events will hold a candle to the original 2 of EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan. They’ll just feel like smaller tournaments, not on the same scale as what you would expect from something with the name EVO.

Prove me wrong, Qiddiya. Prove me wrong.

Byee!

What do you think of Qiddiya making more EVO tournaments all over the world? Let me know in the comments section below!