When COVID-19 forced the EVO Championship team to change the on-site event to an online one, we knew that there would be a few changes, that worried us. Mainly because several of the main event games simply wouldn’t transition over as games we’d want to see anyone compete with online. And you know what, the team was thinking the same thing, as they’ve made some drastic changes for the online event that we’ll be going over.
What’s changed?
The conventional EVO format was that the tournament took place throughout one weekend. Now that it has transitioned to an online event, this will now span over FIVE weekends!
- July 4-5
- July 11-12
- July 18-19
- July 25-26
- July 31 – August 2
That’s a lot of fighting game events for fans to enjoy during July. We still don’t know about how these will be streamed as yet, but we do know they’ll be around in one form or another.
Before the cancelation, eight games were picked to be played at EVO 2020. However, now that tournament is an online one, games that don’t perform well or had questionable netcode were scrapped. This meant that a fan favorite, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game that’s been plagued with notoriously bad netcode, has been dropped. Yep, it has been axed and we’re not even kidding.
I know this won’t make the fans of the game happy, but this decision was for the best. If anyone is to blame, it’s squarely on the shoulders of Nintendo for not addressing the netcode issue. For the company to ignore it for as long as they have, well, it speaks volumes.
This is the new game line-up.
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- 20urnament of Champions (Still Marvel vs Capcom 2, we think)
- Tekken 7
- Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Samurai Shodown
- Soulcalibur VI
- Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late [cl-r]
- GranBlue Fantasy Versus
So Smash is out, with the previously announced 20urnament of Champions, which is likely still Marvel vs Capcom 2, now in its slot.
What the bigger news is that several games that were cut from EVO 2020, and another that hasn’t been at EVO for a while are also back as side/open tournaments. Both Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath DLC, and Killer Instinct, will be part of the open tournament The latter which has been a fun game to watch, but simply didn’t have the backing of its community, is back at EVO! Skullgirls is also making a return in this new online format.
Lastly, a game that has a rough time ever since it left the drawing board is making its EVO debut; Them’s Fightin’ Herds. Starting as a My Little Pony fighting game, then being subject to a DMCA by Hasbro, then having Laren Faust from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (from Hasbro) to help the redo the designs, as well as help with other aspects of the game. To finally leaving early access after all this time and still being fairly successful. It’s a Cinderella story for sure and now it’s heading to EVO.
To recap, the open tournament features the following titles;
- Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath
- Killer Instinct
- Skullgirls
- Them’s Fightin’ Herds
That’s a lot of changes that again, make fans either happy or sad. However, judging from the early reception on Twitter and Reddit, it seems that the changes are seen as positive.
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Expect to hear more regarding the new EVO Online in the upcoming weeks leading up to the first weekend in July 2020, including when signups start.
For more information about Evolution Championship Series, head over to evo.shoryuken.com.
