What a year without Nintendo looks like
The Evolution Championship Series, or Evo, announced its main stage lineup for 2022 this evening. There are some surefire locks, surprises, and as previously confirmed, no Smash Bros. in sight.
The lineup for this year is:
- Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
- Guilty Gear Strive
- Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
- Tekken 7
- The King of Fighters XV
- Melty Blood: Type Lumina
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Granblue Fantasy Vs.
- Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Evo 2022 will take place at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on Aug. 5 through 7. This marks the tournament’s return to in-person competition, after an online event hosted last year and a cancelled event in 2020.
For the schedule, finals slots will be determined by number of registrants. So the game with the most entrants will close Evo 2022 out on Grand Finals day, while the least will be the first finals hosted, earlier in the weekend.
The Evo tournament series was jointly acquired by Sony and RTS in 2021, though it kept co-founders Tom and Tony Cannon as advisors for the new partnership. Late last month, the tournament organizer confirmed that Super Smash Bros. will not be present at this year’s event, saying Nintendo had elected not to go ahead with it.
Last year’s Evo 2021 Online highlighted the online fighting game scene that’s significantly grown, due to COVID-19 restrictions. It took the chance to highlight both the usual games, like Street Fighter V and Tekken 7, as well as the increasingly popular Skullgirls 2nd Encore.
Sure, some games like Street Fighter and Guilty Gear seem like certain locks. But even without a Smash Bros. event this year, it’s nice to see nods towards passionate communities with picks like Melty Blood: Type Lumina and Skullgirls. Hosts Sajam and Tasty Steve also confirmed there will be community areas for hosting side events, arcade cabinets on-site, and a ton of water stations. You have to stay hydrated in that Vegas heat.
Evo 2022 will run from Aug. 5 through 7, hosted live in Las Vegas and streaming on Twitch.