Over the last year, Fighting Game Major tournament series Evo has been passed around nearly like a hot potato in terms of ownership. From Sony backing out and even Pokimane’s company leaving, RTS has decided to own the whole thing. The Quiddiya-based company has taken ownership of the brand. Nodwin will be stepping out of the co-ownership. However, Nodwin has agreed to continue with the marketing.
This was announced in an Evo press release to inform fans of what’s to come. Stuart Saw of RTS released a statement in regards to the change.
“We are proud of our legacy with Evo that started 5 years ago. We’re going to continue investing in the things that matter to our community, elevating and empowering members of the FGC and working diligently with our game developer partners to ensure that Evo benefits all involved parties” – Stuart Saw, Chief Executive Officer, RTS
RTS now owns the entire 20-year brand. RTS will still allow Evo leadership to stay the same. For Quiddiya City, the move goes hand-in-hand with their Power of Play philosophy and what the city is doing to bolster their gaming and entertainment district. How this will change all four events forthcoming, Japan, Vegas, France, and Singapore in the near future, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, with the FGC..
There seems to be an interesting consensus with the move. ButtonCheck did present a few stances to this which throws in the global sense when more events come out from the Evo brand. ShackNews also had seen some of the FGC reactions.
In a broader sense, some fighting game tours do cross through Evo events as qualifiers, but not usually the finals for them such as the CyGames Cup with GranBlue Fantasy Versus or Capcom Cup 12 with Street Fighter VI. Fans do have other outlets to get world class fisticuffs if Evo is not their first choice, but the defining moments of competitive fighting game scenes were born from Evo itself.
