Evolution 2022 was not guaranteed to succeed after years of being on the sidelines.
It’s easy to forget that a wall or ceiling is all that separates Las Vegas from the concrete desert and eventually sand. You are not allowed to look beyond the immediate environment. This is by design. It’s all there to keep your attention on the next hand or pull at the slot machine’s long arm. You get the impression that Las Vegas is not recovering from the pandemic. Instead, you walk through its cavernous halls and feel that it has always existed in a bubble that has never been acknowledged. It is a great place for many arenas and stadiums, as well as some of the most important sporting events in the world. Yet, they continue to come to the city.
It has the feel of a city written to embody the idea for the comeback narrative. This makes Evolution 2022, the world’s largest fighting game tournament, the best place in the world to host its return as an actual event.
Many players and commentators refer to “The Road to EVO” as a term that describes the many tournaments and training sessions required to be able to play in this fighting game community. However, the phrase’s meaning has changed over the years as both the event and the organization have undergone major internal and external changes. After EVO leadership scandals and an international pandemic, the fighting game tournament was in a figurative bind. It could be seen as a small miracle that it returned this year, but more accurately, it resulted from corporate intervention and hard work.
EVO 2022 In 2020, EVO decided to host its physical tournament online in response to rising COVID cases all over the globe and national lockdowns. It was logistically sensible as players could play from anywhere in the world, and there was no risk of infection. Additionally, it made more sense for games with robust online systems, allowing them to increase the number of participants. In July, allegations were made of Joey Cuellar’s sexual misconduct. Cuellar was released by the board and replaced with an interim CEO. But the damage was already done. Developers such as Netherrealm Studios and Bandai Namco had pulled out their sponsorships and were no longer involved, so the board was forced to cancel the organization for the year.
EVO Online was launched in 2021. However, it was largely ignored by the fighting game community. Due to rising COVID cases, a physical companion EVO Showcase was planned. However, it was also cancelled. It was hard to find the glamour and excitement of an in-person event. Many people were jumping from their seats in excitement. By that point, plans had already been made to proceed with a physical event for the next year — hoping, perhaps overly optimistically, that COVID numbers would decrease and vaccine numbers would increase. EVO had to be big. The mountain’s summit needed to be a shining beacon for all the international FGCs. Unfortunately, it took just a year to achieve this.
Two pivotal events in 2021 have instilled confidence internally and externally in return to form. The first was Sony Interactive Entertainment’s announcement of a joint acquisition with RTS, esports investor RTS, of EVO. This gave the event a cash cushion that was crucially needed. Without it, it would have been impossible to relaunch. The acquiring parties and EVO board decided to hire Rick Thither, the show’s general manager, event director for the national tournament Combo Breaker, and a long-standing FGC veteran.
Thither admitted that he hadn’t slept for over 100 hours during an interview at the show’s end. Although it is easy to believe he was laughing, Thither repeated the comment several times during the closing ceremony speech. It is possible that he was not far off. He adds, “This is life, and many things can go wrong.”
EVO 2022 The budget for EVO 2022 was largely funded by new corporate resources. This is in contrast to previous years. Every arena was covered with custom screens, which featured graphical packages that were far more advanced than those of previous tournaments. There were also a host of safety measures that were not considered a concern in years past. Each dollar added this year was a potential point of failure, another problem to solve, even though they had a greater impact on the overall value.
The EVO faced many problems in the first EVO of a pandemic.
Tier says, “It was extremely challenging.” Thiher says that aside from the usual difficulties of increased cost and inflation, and people not being accustomed to working at events, there are a variety staff who –for fighting games — provide the infrastructure for our tournaments and events. Devoted arcade hobbyists who help run brackets and assist us in running the productions have helped many people get new jobs, start families, or pursue other hobbies over the two-and-a-half years that they’ve been away from living events. It is an unexpected twist to have to find replacements or get them back in touch with the culture we spend a lot of time in.
One of the most difficult aspects of having an event in a pandemic is how to prevent people from getting sick. Although it is too soon to determine how widespread COVID spread, the official EVO policy may have helped minimize the impact given the circumstances. Staff issued wristbands after verification to allow entry into the arena or hall. Guards were also posted around the event space and at the entrances to remind those without masks or who had lost their masks that they must keep them on during entry.
This is, if anything, a harsh indictment of other conventions that refuse to offer the same safety protocols, such as Twitchcon San Diego. EVO may have had to hire a few extra people to check vaccination certificates and enforce mask use, but that isn’t very important compared to the cost of the entire event. It’s possible that the policies were responsible for those who didn’t get sick at EVO, a group I am part of. Others are failing to learn from EVO here.
EVO 2022 Thither, for his part, sees the infusion of corporate ownership into the fighting game community as positive. Although he would not comment on its specific impact on EVO, Thither stated that he did not work for EVO before it became corporate-owned. However, he was vaguer about how it will affect the next few years’ events.
Thither says, “We have companies interested in us not only as a product but as a culture.” Thither says, “So they’re providing us with the resources to experiment with what this event can be and what the brand could do.” This will be amazing, not only for EVO’s purpose but also for how it can grow.
Fighting games are in a transitional period, with games such as Street Fighter V upcoming and sequels like Mortal Kombat, and new titles like Projekt L, EVO is returning at an inflexion point for the whole genre. Each year brings new and returning players. This number will increase as fighting games reach new audiences and explore new models. From being an Overwatch competitor to becoming champion. Or could someone go from earning a college degree to beating the most renowned Street Fighter player in the world?
All those possibilities, as with everything, can lead to things falling apart. The Road to Evo is never-ending. Work begins to plan next year’s show and find better ways to make it more successful. As these things grow and the event accommodates more people, expectations naturally increase.
Thither said, “We’re not going to meet every expectation.” Thither spoke minutes before the closing Guilty Gear Strive Top 8. Thither says, “This is an aspirational organization, and the sky’s not too high.” This event should be easy to consume, digestible, and explorable. That’s what I intend to accomplish in the next six months.
