Evo 2024 marks several key milestones for the fighting game community as it returns to Las Vegas with a lineup and format that is bigger and better than ever.
The event’s big revamp, announced today, includes a reworked ticketing and finals experience that will showcase the best of every game featured in its lineup. Just like the last two years, Evo is increasing the size of its show floor and all of the excitement it features as it moves to the Las Vegas Convention Center. In addition to that growth, anyone in attendance from July 19 to 21 will have full, three-day access to the show floor and the Arena Finals.
Evo’s show floor this year is expected to feature the “largest Arcade in event history” for attendees to play on classic and new machines, along with new dedicated stages for panels, reveals, and a featured cosplay contest. The usual artist alley, vendor area, the Beyond the Arcade Stick Museum, and publisher booths will also return, along with an even bigger section for BYOC (bring your own controller) tournaments.
But what about the games, you may be asking. Well, Evo 2024 is rotating its lineup to feature four brand new titles and one of the most iconic names in the event’s history—Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.
- Street Fighter 6
- Tekken 8 (New)
- Mortal Kombat 1 (New)
- Guilty Gear Strive
- King of Fighter XV
- Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (New)
- Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes (New)
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Throwback Game)
Every game in this lineup will have the top six finals featured in that updated arena experience, where fans who buy the “all-inclusive ticket” being offered for Evo 2024 can bounce back and forth between the Finals Arena and show floor across all three days.
Last year’s Evo set multiple records, with more than 9,000 players from 71 countries attending the event—including over 7,081 players for Street Fighter 6 alone, which might be the largest tournament for a single fighting game in history. With Tekken 8 and MK1 joining the fray for their one Evo debuts, Evo 2024 will likely break its own records with Chipotle-sponsored gusto.
That doesn’t even take into account that Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will be featured as it celebrates its 25th anniversary and Evo looks to celebrate its own 20th anniversary with the game and the most iconic moment in Evo history—Moment 37 between Daigo Umehara and Justin Wong.
“Daigo and Justin have become cultural pillars now for fighting games,” Evo general manager Rick “TheHadou” Thiher told Dot Esports before the announcement. “When you go back and tell the story of that game, of that moment, you’re also now dealing with people who have reach and presentation that has grown exponentially since that moment. I think that being able to wrap all of those stories together, and focus it back on, we’re going to have a tournament again, for everything that was, everything that is, and everything that can be. I don’t want to say it’s the driving purpose but it is so close to the ethos that we’re trying to get to and build with the brand right now. Continuing to build on it feels not just natural, but all puns intended, natural evolution.”
And, if you can’t wait for Evo 2024 in Las Vegas, Evo Japan is returning to Tokyo from April 27 with its own updated lineup—including another look at Riot Games’ fighting game, Project L.
