In one of the more surprising pieces of news in a rather eventful week, Sony just announced that PlayStation has acquired the Evolution Champion Series tournament.
In their announcement, Sony claims that the new collaboration will help "elevate the global reach, scale and fan engagement surrounding this iconic gaming tournament."
Sony's reveal comes just months ahead of EVO 2021. The latest iteration of the said tournament will strictly be an online affair.
EVO 2021 will kick off on August 6-8 with the competition resuming on August 13 until August 15. What is the Evolution Championship Series? The Evolution Championship Series tournament, otherwise known as EVO, is the premier fighting game tournament in the world.
The event was founded way back in 1996 and, for the most part, an annual tournament has been held each year since. The tournament has seen its number of attendees grow each year and has been held across a variety of venues across the Las Vegas Valley starting in 2005, attracting players from all over the world.
The Evolution fighting games tournament has featured games such as Street Fighter, Tekken, and Super Smash Bros., since its inception. However, it has included other more obscure fighting games every now and then as well.
Given its roots, you could consider EVO as one of the oldest esports tournaments in the world. It's where players like Justin Wong and Daigo Umehara made a name for themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l63vlqhGMI Unfortunately, for the first time in more than two decades, EVO failed to hold an annual tournament after the cancellation of EVO 2020.