We are a mere two weeks away from what could be described as the Super Bowl of the fighting game community. EVO Las Vegas emanating from the Las Vegas Convention Center from June 26-28th will crown champions across 12 titles. While every game should be seen in the spectacle of the EVO Arena, time permitting only 6 will get the opportunity and these six are chosen based on competitor registration counts. Today EVO finally revealed these numbers and we have our line up.
Street Fighter, even without having Tifa Lockhart on the roster has managed to maintain it’s #1 spot that it’s held for years with 2414 competitors. Tekken locks in the 2nd place slot with 1354 players in a year which saw the departure of Katsuhiro Harada and other key members of the development team. Despite dev layoffs, interest in Riot’s free to play fighter 2XKO remained strong and the title managed to nab the third slot.
What could be attributed to a serious push by publisher Lugwig Ahgren (via Offbrand Games), Rivals of Aether 2 will have its largest tournament and will crown their champion at the end of Saturday night. Joining the platform fighter are two titles who are no strangers to appearing in the arena with Guilty Gear -STRIVE- and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves made a splash during its first year by opening the arena on Sunday last year, however this year the game will not have a presence at all as it will be featured on the showcase stage which is set in the convention center space. Other titles which will see time on the showcase stage include the newly released Invincible VS (which will also reward its champion the Arm of Conquest), Vampire Savior, Blazblue: Central Fiction, Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes and Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage.
For those looking for the full breakdown of this year’s EVO Las Vegas entrants, you can find the data on the tournament’s website via this blog post. While the call for entrants has closed, you can still attend the event as a spectator, registration can be found here.
EVO Las Vegas 2026 will take place from June 26th to 28th and all the action can be viewed on the various EVO streaming channels on Twitch.tv and Youtube.com