Evo Empowers Players and Fans to Shape Its 2026 Events

New Early Bird Registration Opens Today as Evo Unveils Lineups for Japan and Las Vegas

Innovative Nomination Process Also Begins Today for 20 Categories for the Evo Awards powered by Qiddiya on March 28 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (December 9, 2025) - Evolution Championship Series (known as Evo), the largest and longest-running open invite fighting game festival, announced today that, for the first time, competitors and fans will be empowered to shape Evo events in 2026. Player registrations will determine which game titles will be played in the Arena Finals in Japan and Las Vegas. Meanwhile, fans can nominate their favorite players and moments to help select the finalists for the second annual Evo Awards. Early bird registration opens today for Evo Las Vegas through February 2 on evo.gg for fans to scoop up three-day passes for less than $200 per person. Evo Japan registration also opens today at evojapan.gg.

Evo revealed today during its highly anticipated announcement show that the game lineups for Evo Japan and Evo Las Vegas will feature an expanded 12 titles each, with a fresh mix of legendary and emerging games. New in 2026, the six games with the most registered competitors will be featured in the Arena Finals, while the remaining titles will enjoy all the pomp and circumstance on the Showcase Stage. As the largest open tournament in the world, Evo Las Vegas will have a minimum guaranteed prize pool of $500,000 across all titles. Fans can view the announcement show on demand on Twitch at twitch.tv/evo, YouTube at youtube.com/@evoevents,and TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@evofgc.

“Evo is defined by its global community, and we want fans worldwide to have an active voice in the experiences available at our events this year,” said Rick Thiher, GM for Evo. “2025 saw record-setting events from Evo across the globe, and that passionate response inspires our team to continue creating and expanding opportunities for the FGC in the years ahead.”

Dominique “SonicFox” McLean from Seattle, Wash., who helped close the announcement show, will look to make history next year as they are just one win away from tying Justin Wong's Evo record with nine titles in Las Vegas. In addition, Pakistan's Arslan “Arslan Ash” Ash has a shot to tie Evo's overall title record if he can sweep in Japan, Las Vegas, and France in 2026.

Evo Japan returns to Tokyo on May 1-3 at Tokyo Big Sight as its largest event ever, with an increased area of more than 8,600 square meters for an improved and upgraded Show Floor and an expanded game lineup as follows:

• CAPCOM's Street Fighter 6 - 5th appearance at Evo
• Riot Games' 2XKO - 1st appearance at Evo
• Bandai Namco Entertainment's TEKKEN 8 - 4th appearance at Evo
• Arc System Works' Guilty Gear -Strive- - 6th appearance at Evo
• Cygames' Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising - 4th appearance at Evo
• SNK's Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves - 3rd appearance at Evo
• Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 5: REVO World Stage - 1st appearance at Evo
• Arc System Works' Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes - 3rd appearance at Evo
• SNK's THE KING OF FIGHTERS XV - 3rd appearance at Evo
• Lasengle's Melty Blood Type Lumina - 4th appearance at Evo
• CAPCOM's Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire - 1st appearance at Evo
• Sega's Hokuto no Ken - 1st appearance at Evo

The Las Vegas Convention Center will once again host Evo's flagship event on June 26-28 and welcomes back Chipotle® as presenting partner with a stacked game lineup, including:

• SNK's Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves - 4th appearance at Evo
• Cygames' Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising - 5th appearance at Evo
• Arc System Works' Guilty Gear -Strive- - 7th appearance at Evo
• Riot Games' 2XKO - 2nd appearance at Evo
• CAPCOM's Street Fighter 6 - 6th appearance at Evo
• Bandai Namco Entertainment's TEKKEN 8 - 5th appearance at Evo
• Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 5: REVO World Stage - 2nd appearance at Evo
• Skybound Games's INVINCIBLE VS - 1st appearance at Evo
• Arc System Works' Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes - 4th appearance at Evo
• Aether Studios' Rivals of Aether II - 2nd appearance at Evo
• Arc System Works' Blazblue Centralfiction - 2nd appearance at Evo
• CAPCOM's Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire - 1st appearance at Evo

Evo will feature many fan favorite events and activations from 2025. The Evo Museum in Japan will mimic the expansive Las Vegas experience from 2025, while Las Vegas will also debut a statue and collectibles exhibit. Both Japan and Las Vegas will host expanded cosplay contests, while the Evo Showcase will feature industry-leading panels and keynote speakers. More details will be announced at a later date.

The Evo Awards Show returns for the second consecutive year, and fans can now nominate their favorites for every category starting today through January 9 to determine the finalists for each category. The winners will be announced at the Evo Awards Show in Los Angeles on March 28, 2026.

The list of Evo Awards Categories are below:

• Best Game Release
• Best Character
• Best Product
• Comeback of the Year
• Best Pop Off
• Best Commentary
• Best Content Creator
• Best Dressed
• Best Cosplay
• Best Custom Controller
• Best Local
• Best Combo
• Best Online Series
• Best Artist
• Best Meme
• They've Got Next (upcoming new player)
• Commentator of the Year
• Match of the Year
• Player of the Year
• Moment of the Year

Early bird registration is available now until February 2 at a reduced rate for Evo Japan and Evo Las Vegas with regular registration February 3 to May 4, and late registration until May 25.

About Evo
The Evolution Championship Series (Evo) represents the largest and longest-running fighting game tournaments on Earth. In 2024, the Las Vegas event was the largest tournament in esports history. Evo brings together the best of the best from around the world in Japan, France and the United States (with Singapore in 2027) in an electric showcase of skill and fun, as players and fans gather to honor the competitive spirit in an open bracket format that reveals the world's strongest fighting game players. Evo was established in 2002 after a series of local arcade tournaments run by Tom and Tony Cannon were first held in 1996. Evo is owned and operated by NODWIN Gaming and Qiddiya Gaming.