In a gigantic step for the Fighting Game Community, both the Evolution Championship Series and Sony announced today that Evo, the FGC’s premier event, will now be jointly owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and a newly formed group known as RTS. In a statement, the event’s new owner assured the community that “Evo co-founders Tom and Tony Cannon will remain closely involved in an advisory role” and that the tournament would retain its “authenticity.” Mark “MarkMan” Julio will also stay in his role as Head of Business Development.
For their part, the Cannons introduced Sony and RTS as “experienced strategic partner[s].” In their statements, both Sony and the Cannons explicitly referred to last summer’s string of high-profile abuse and harassment cases in the FGC. While neither statement mentioned any specifics, there’s reason to hope that Sony’s involvement will spur the community to continue to raise its standards of conduct.
A message to our community. For more information visit https://t.co/6JHZCsJsXr pic.twitter.com/uj0NKRW30m
— EVO (@EVO) March 18, 2021
In line with these announcements, the new-look Evo also announced an online championship this summer, together with regional qualifiers for Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Featuring Guilty Gear -Strive-, Mortal Kombat 11, Street Fighter V, and Tekken 7, the finals for Evo 2021 Online will take place August 6-8 and 13-15. Dates for the qualifiers, as well as other details, have yet to be announced.
We at toptier will continue to report on this story as it develops. At the moment, it’s not entirely clear what this move means for Evo or for the FGC more broadly. Shoryuken, the longtime FGC hub, is also included in the deal. Its front page currently shows only a summary of the other announcements, and it remains to be seen if Shoryuken will survive the acquisition and, if so, in what form. As for Evo itself, FGCers will likely have to wait until next year to understand the full ramifications of today’s news. It’s reasonable to think that Sony will try to emphasize the esports nature of Evo, both for business reasons and because of the people involved. Stuart Saw, the CEO of the newly-formed RTS group that now co-owns Evo, has ties to Twitch and Fortnite, among other high-profile esports brands.
Given the FGC’s preexisting ambivalence towards the esports world, Sony and Saw will likely need to earn the community’s trust. For Super Smash Bros. fans, however, there’s already one clear ray of hope: despite being officially aligned with PlayStation, Evo’s current stance states that other consoles and platforms “will remain welcome at [the event].” Moreover, Sony and RTS now have every reason to want Evo to succeed. Either way, after the scandal-laden, virus-stricken year of 2020, FGCers have to hope that today’s news will be remembered as a turning point for the better.
Comments