// KOTAKU — GAMING
Your Guide To Evo 2026: Why The Games Are Changing, Attendance Is Down, But The Spirit Endures
The biggest fighting game tournament of the year has gotten a bit smaller in 2026. Evo 2026 runs from Friday, June 26th to Sunday, June 28th and you can watch the broadcast on one of 10 different Twitch channels. The tournament boasts an expanded lineup of 12 games with 2XKO, Riot Games’ foray into fighting games, on the lineup.
This is not the first Evo event since the series came under the ownership of the Saudi Arabian government late last year. However, it is the first in the United States (taking place, as usual, in Las Vegas), and it seems to be the one most impacted by both the new owners and the larger economical and logistical implications of hosting a major international event in the U.S. Still, Evo is where the fighting game community and the spirit of competition shine brightest, so here’s a preview of what’s to come.
One of the biggest hallmarks of Evo 2026 is that registration numbers are precipitously down. At last year’s Evo, there were 8,541 competitors. This year that number has dropped over 30 percent to 5,774. In 2025, Street Fighter 6, by far the most popular game of the tournament and the one which traditionally closes out the show, boasted 4,228 competitors. This year, that number has almost been cut in half.
There are several reasons for this. Evo is an international competition and right now, the United States isn’t being the most friendly to its international guests. Additionally, Evo’s expanded the tournaments beyond Las Vegas and Japan to include France and Singapore, with the possibility of even more, giving international competitors the option to compete closer to home without the hassle of trying to secure a U.S. travel visa. With costs rising on everything everywhere, travel and lodging have become prohibitively expensive even for people who live within the United States. And finally, there’s the animosity for Evo’s Saudi Arabian owners, which has seen at least two high-profile fighting game commentators publicly state they’ll no longer be participating in Evo events. The fighting game community (FGC) is a queer community, too, and no doubt the change in ownership has caused a lot of people to just stay home.
However, the tournament isn’t without its international or queer stars. Japanese Street Fighter legend Daigo Umehara will be competing in Street Fighter 6. Arslan Ash, the Pakistani Tekken player who’s won a ridiculous seven Evo championships, will also be in attendance. SonicFox, defender of trans rights themself, will also compete, playing duos in 2XKO. When SonicFox and their duo partner Inzem competed in 2XKO at Combo Breaker earlier this year, they did so under the trans flag. And though it’s highly unlikely given who owns the tournament and all, I hope they do so again.
In Evos past, the main lineup was eight or nine of the most popular games. This year that lineup has been extended to feature 12 games. While the bigger list of games is great, it comes at the expense of Evo eliminating a bunch of tournaments for smaller games that were often featured on stream during the event’s off hours while the bigger games churned through their thousands of players. Mortal Kombat is a notable name missing this year, likely because the number of entrants for that game has dwindled to embarrassingly low numbers despite being only three years old. Compare that to Guilty Gear Strive, which is five years old this year and still managed to crack the top six games by registration numbers. Invincible VS makes its Evo debut and while Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls isn’t out yet, it’ll get an exhibition tournament that concludes Friday night. You can peruse the full schedule here, and here’s a list of all 12 games that’ll be featured during Evo 2026.
2XKO, the fighting game version of League of Legends, has gotten off to a rocky start. Shortly after its console launch, developer Riot Games laid off roughly half its development team, citing poorer-than-anticipated reception. In the blog post announcing