It’s a big day for fighting game fans, as the Evo Championship Series has locked in its main stage selection for a new year. Eight games will be featured across three days on the main stage at Evo 2024, including the likes of Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Mortal Kombat 1, on July 19 through 21.
The news was announced today on a special stream, hosted by Vicious, MajinObama, and other members of the fighting game community. Though many games get played at Evo, either on stage or in side tournaments, or even in hotel lobbies and outside the venue, these are the titles that will take the spotlight in this year’s event:
- Tekken 8
- Street Fighter 6
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Guilty Gear Strive
- The King of Fighters XV
- Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
- Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
The presence of Street Fighter 6 should be no surprise, given its record-breaking entrants from last year and incredible grand finals. Tekken 8 looks to carry forward the legacy of its series, and by all accounts it’s doing well. It seems likely that these two will compete for the most entrants at this year’s festivities in Las Vegas. Fellow newcomer Mortal Kombat 1 also shows up, carrying the NetherRealm torch in its Evo debut.
Guilty Gear Strive rounds out the expected giants, as the presumably largest 2D anime fighter around, and SNK gets an entrant in with The King of Fighters XV. Anime players get even more to play in Las Vegas, as Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and Under Night In-Birth 2 Sys:Celes both secured slots.
The big draw for old fans and newcomers alike is the throwback game, an utter classic: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. This year’s throwback game is one that means a lot to the history of fighting games, and Evo will be hosting a tournament celebrating the classic title. With how much reverence there is for this one, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing who shows up for the next fight.
A new venue appears
There are more changes in store for Evo, including a new location. The West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center will now play host to Evo, and the show floor will be open all three days. Publisher booths, artist alley, and more will be open all three days, rather than just Friday or Saturday. The BYOC area will also apparently be larger than ever.
The Evo Showcase returns for panels and publisher news again too, as does the Evo Community Stage. Plus, the Evo ticket will now get you into both the arena and the general show floor, which is a nice shift. All eight games will take place on the arena stage this year, so no more splitting it out.
Tickets go live at the Evo site, so you can find all the attendance info there if you want to show up live in-person. It’s an overall fairly predictable lineup, but that’s by no means a bad thing; fighting games are really good right now, and the mixture of new entries and familiar standards here should hopefully make for a stellar Evo 2024.
