As opposed to $50-$70
The first Japan EVO tournament, noteworthy for also not featuring Melee as a main stage title, will be free to enter. As long as you can make it to Japan in January you won’t need to pay the ~$50-$70 required for other EVO tournaments, and spectators won’t be required to pay anything for the first two days (once it moves from Sunshine City to Akiba Square, you’ll have to pony up).
Now this isn’t necessarily being done for any reason other than getting around a legal loophole. According to officials, Japanese regulations are stifling eSports in Japan, so much so that they are required to only pay out “20 times the entry fee.” By making entries free, they can choose the payment. Those payments are already confirmed to be roughly 1 million yen, or around $9,000 US per game, outside of Nintendo titles, which will pay nothing.
I’m anxious to see the streaming numbers more than anything, and I’m just happy Guilty Gear is in. I see big wins for Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 once again, but the rest I’m not sure about, especially ARMS.
