EVO 2024 makes history as world’s biggest esports event ever

The 2024 Evolution Championship Series has become the single largest esports event in history, boasting a record number of participating players for the famous fighting game event.

EVO is the world’s largest fighting game tournament, drawing thousands of players from all across the world to Las Vegas, Nevada, to test their might in a weekend of community and competition.

Hailed as the Mecca of fighting games, EVO has only grown bigger and better year over year… and now, after growing out of the Mandalay into the Las Vegas Convention Center, it has made history in a major way.

As told in a press release on June 26, 2024, this year’s EVO has become the largest open-bracket esports event ever with 10,224 registered players hailing from 63 countries around the globe.

That’s not all; EVO 2024 also features the largest tournament brackets ever for titles like TEKKEN 8, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

“We are seeing more and more of the community exercising their competitive spirit with us in Las Vegas each year,” EVO’s General Manager, Rick Thiher, said of the historic event.

“The wonderful thing about fighting games is that while there are generations of players returning year after year, there is always a new generation greeting them at EVO and aspiring to make a name for themselves. What makes EVO special is not just watching who will cement their legacy across these generations, but seeing how these generations of players come together and connect as a community and culture.”

This isn’t first time EVO has made esports history, by far. Just last year, EVO hit a record number of attendees (one it has now broken), with lines stretching out the door of the Mandalay Bay casino and into the lobby.

That year, EVO also scored its very own holiday in Las Vegas known as ‘EVO Day,’ and the event’s founders — the Cannon brothers — were awarded the key to the city to honor their achivements.

EVO continues to break barriers and draw members of the fighting game community together each year, and with its first foray in the Las Vegas Convention Center coming up on July 19-21, there’s more to look forward to than ever before.

Featuring a gallery of fighting game artwork throughout history, a cosplay contest, special dioramas for photo ops, and much more, this year’s EVO promises to be an event that the FGC just can’t miss out on.