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Sony has announced that it has acquired the Evolution Championship Series, better known as Evo, the largest fighting game tournament in the world.
Sony Interactive Entertainment and RTS, an electronic sports venture from Endeavor, acquired the “assets and properties” of the Evo series. The purchase means that future Evo events are effectively Sony PlayStation events in partnership with RTS.
Evo co-founders Tony and Tom Cannon will remain at Evo as key consultants and Sony took the opportunity to announce the 2021 dates for Evo Online.This year’s Evo event will be held digitally from 6 to 8 August and from 13 to 15 August. Events will include Tekken 7, Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate and Guilty Gear – Strive -. Details about the online qualifiers will be shared in the coming weeks.
As for other games. Evo business developer Mark Julio says “Evo is still open to all platforms” and that PlayStation and RTS are allowing Julio’s team to work with their community to support fighting games as a whole. Although this does not answer specifically if games from original developers, such as Super Smash Bros. from Nintendo, will appear in future events.
It is also very important to note. @EVO is still open for all platforms. The PlayStation and RTS teams are allowing us to continue working with our community to support fighting games. https://t.co/NKMQUSvkfj
– Mark Julio (マ ー ク マ ン) (@ MarkMan23) March 18, 2021
“Today, we are excited to announce the next chapter in the history of PlayStation and Evo, the largest and oldest fighting game tournament in the world,” Sony said in a blog detailing the acquisition.
“For PlayStation, today’s announcement marks an exciting step on our journey to foster the growth of the fighting game and electronic sports community, and to support competitive players widely on our consoles,” says PlayStation. “Fighting games are extremely popular on PlayStation consoles, with players registering more than 1.1 billion hours of gameplay in 2020 alone.”
Sony says it will “break down barriers” for players so that they can compete at all levels of the sport and reaffirmed their commitment to creating a “safe and inclusive environment for players”. PlayStation is linked to Evo’s message about promoting a safe community.The 2020 Evo Online event was canceled after allegations of abuse against Evo organizer Joey Cueller. NetherRealm and Capcom withdrew from the 2020 event in solidarity with members of the fighting game community who spoke out against the abuse. This, in turn, is part of a larger scandal that threatened to involve the entire community.
Sony’s official involvement can signal stronger organizational support to create a safer environment for players and participants.
Matt TM Kim is the news editor at IGN.