Evolution, or Evo, is the largest and most important fighting games tournament and they have reached a new audience this past year. Games such as Tekken 7 and DragonBall FighterZ have taken the forefront of popularity from traditional series and fans have reacted in spades. Numbers from Joey Cuellar, Evo’s founder, show that these new games are taking the community by storm. The number of entrants for each game are:

DragonBall FighterZ - 2575

Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition - 2484

Tekken 7: 1538  

Smash 4: 1354

Smash Melee - 1351

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle - 1178

Guilty Gear Xrd: Rev 2 - 629

Injustice 2 - 363

Many fighting games overlap as their mechanics are similar to each other, but contain slight nuances that make them unique. Therefore, a shift in popularity is significant because as one game gets more popular, the others get left behind. Games such as King of Fighters XIV and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom have been removed from the top 10 most registered games list and Street Fighter lost it’s number one spot. Tekken has also climbed over the Smash Bros. Franchise  and BlazBlue is starting to surge in popularity. Fighting games have always been a staple of esports competitions and with new games leading the pack, new players and more opportunities have been brought to the table. Be sure to catch all the action at Evo by tuning in to their multiple Twitch channels on August 3rd to 5th.