EVO 2022 Lineup Revealed

After the controversial absence of the Evolution Championship Series in 2020 and the more limited EVO Online 2021, the premier fighting game event returns in person for 2022. While we’ve known it would come back to the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas from August 5th to the 7th, we now know what big titles will be headlining the event over that weekend.

The first four are returning from last year with Street Fighter V: Championship Edition, Guilty Gear Strive, Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate, and Tekken 7. With Street Fighter 6 announced last month, it should be a great sendoff for its predecessor. As exciting as the other three are, people will have their fingers crossed for any updates for Guilty Gear Strive DLC and potential news about NetherRealm Studios’ rumored next title. People are also curious about what’s next for the Tekken series, as Tekken 7 launched seven years ago now and has surpassed eight million sales in its lifetime.

Next were two recently released titles making their first-time debut at the event. The fifth game is The King of Fighters XV, which I have remained enthusiastically excited about since I reviewed it. Following it is Melty Blood: Type Lumina, which is the 5th entry in the Melty Blood series and released ten years after Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code. Both games feature some entertaining gameplay that should make for some hype matches during the event.

Two more Arc System Works titles came in for the seventh and eighth spots. After an absence from EVO Online 2021 (likely due to its netcode), Dragon Ball FighterZ will return to the main stage. Granblue Fantasy Versus on the other hand will be making its debut, having been selected in the never-to-be EVO 2020 lineup and likely being looked over last year’s event for the same reason Dragon Ball FighterZ was. The former has changed a lot since its last showing at EVO 2019 and just launched a new DLC character, while the latter is sure to catch the eyes of plenty who haven’t tried it before.

Finally, Skullgirls: 2nd Encore was announced as the last headlining game. The game is celebrating its tenth anniversary, is currently releasing DLC from a season pass, and will have its debut on the physical stage after its EVO debut at last year’s online-only event. It’s always had a dedicated fanbase and truly picked up steam in the last year. As much as fans have wanted to see the game headlining at EVO, now feels like the perfect time for it to have a physical presence.

It’s a pretty strong lineup and it’s very telling of what’s popular in the fighting game community right now. Nintendo’s decision to not allow the Super Smash Bros. series at this year’s event is unfortunate but somewhat expected since Sony does jointly own the event since last year. At the same time, it likely would have taken the place of Skullgirls: 2nd Encore or Granblue Fantasy Versus and I’m happy those two have the chance to headline.

Many were hoping Marvel vs Capcom 2 might make an appearance after its planned 20th-anniversary tournament for EVO 2020. Although nothing was officially confirmed during the streaming event, EVO’s general manager did put out a tweet to let people know that they did not forget about the game. It’s difficult to not get excited about that even though it is a simple tweet. All in all, it sounds like this might be a fantastic return for the biggest FGC event. Players can register now for the games they want to play and the games with the most registrations will be saved for last in the schedule during the event.

For those immediately asking, we have not forgot about MVC2. So give us some time and keep that spirit bomb warmed up.

— Rick (@TheHadou) March 9, 2022