Evolution Championship Series
The Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is an American annual esports event that focuses exclusively on fighting games. The tournaments are completely open and use the double elimination format. As with Super Battle Opera, contestants travel from all over the world to participate, including gaming hubs such as Japan, South Korea and Pakistan. The first Evolution was originally held as a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament called the Battle by the Bay. It changed its name to Evo in 2002. Every successive tournament has seen an increase of attendees. It has been held at various venues across the Las Vegas Valley since 2005. From 2021 to 2025, the event was jointly owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment and the Endeavor esports venture RTS. As of 2025, Indian esports tournament operator NODWIN Gaming, as well as RTS, jointly own Evo.
History
Evo was founded by Tom Cannon, also known for his work on Shoryuken.com, a fighting game website. The tournament started as "Battle by the Bay", a 40-man Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament in 1996 in Sunnyvale, California. The event eventually moved to its recurring venue in the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. The event changed its name to Evolution Championship Series, or EVO for short, in 2002. Over time, the tournament grew, recording over one thousand participants in 2009.Originally the tournament used arcade cabinets, but in 2004 the decision was made to move all games over to their console versions, to a large amount of controversy. During the transition to games on the seventh generation consoles, most games were played on a PlayStation 3, though Evo 2014 ran most games on the Xbox 360. Aside from the official tournaments, there is also a "BYOC" area in which many different games are played and side tournaments are held.
1996–2003: Tournament beginnings and re-branding
B3: Battle by the Bay was organized by Tom "inkblot" Cannon, Tony "Ponder" Cannon, Joey "MrWizard" Cuellar, and Seth "S-Kill" Killian, and held in the Golfland arcade hall in Sunnyvale, California. The tournament had 40 contenders mostly from the United States, though B3 also featured players from Canada and Kuwait. B3 featured a Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter Alpha 2 tournament.The B4 Street Fighter Championships were held on July 15–16, 2000, in Folsom, California. B4 introduced several new Capcom fighting games to the roster: Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. The newly released Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was the first non-Street Fighter game to be included, and a precedent for the tournament to branch out to other games. The Capcom Versus series has since had a large presence in the Battle of the Bay and Evolution Championship Series events.
Held in August 2001 in Folsom, California, the B5 Championships was attended by a much larger international crowd, particularly from Japan. Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 made its introduction in the tournament roster at B5, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was again a headliner of the event, being described by TechTV as "the hottest arcade fighting game of the season."
In 2002, the event became formally known as its current name, "Evo". Evo 2002 took place on August 9, 2002, at the University of California, Los Angeles.
2004–08: Change to consoles, Moment 37 and EVO Circuit
Evo 2004 took place at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Southern California from July 29 to August 1. The tournament amassed approximately 700 competitors from over 30 countries to compete in over nine different games. The games featured included Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, Guilty Gear XX, Soulcalibur II, Tekken 4, and Tekken Tag Tournament.Evo 2004 used home consoles for most of their tournament games instead of arcade cabinets, with the only exception being 3rd Strike which used the more traditional arcade cabinets. Evo 2004 was the birthplace of "Evo Moment #37". During the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournament, Daigo Umehara, while facing Justin Wong, successfully parried one of Chun-Li's "Super Moves" while having very little health left and then countered with his own, winning the match. This highlight became highly influential within the fighting game community.
2005 was the first year Evo was held at the Green Valley Ranch casino and hotel in Las Vegas.
Evo 2006 took place at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas. 2006 was the first year that Capcom gave its official, public support of the Evolution tournaments. Traditionally, Evo has only included fighting games, but in 2006 it included Mario Kart DS in its lineup. The fighting games featured were Dead or Alive 4, Guilty Gear XX Slash, and Hyper Street Fighter II.
Evo 2007, officially called Evo World 2007, took place from August 24 to 26 at the Green Valley Ranch, in Las Vegas. Throughout the year there were several other tournaments held throughout the US bearing the Evo name. The game roster had eight games, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Virtua Fighter 5, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Guilty Gear XX Λ Core, and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Evo 2008 took place at the Tropicana Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. from August 8 to 10. The tournament would feature six games within its official roster: Capcom vs. SNK 2, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The Brawl tournament was widely criticized for its ruleset, which allowed items on and saw a relatively unknown player defeat Ken Hoang.
Evo 2008 also allowed attendees a preview of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
2009–13: ''Street Fighter IV'', live streams, and record numbers
Evo 2009 took place on July 17 to 19. Held at the Rio Convention Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the tournament itself would feature six games on its official roster: Soulcalibur IV, Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV. Notably, the newly released Street Fighter IV increased Evo attendance by a considerable margin, and the tournament for it alone boasted more than 1000 participants, almost three times that of the tournaments for the other games.Evo 2010, held at Caesars Palace from July 9, 2010 through July 11, 2010 had a massive number of competitors, with Super Street Fighter IV amassing approximately 1,800 players to duel for a $20,000 guaranteed prize pot. Most notable in this EVO was Justin Wong cementing his dominance in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 in its proverbial swan song, defeating the champion of the previous year, Sanford Kelly. Also notable was Wong failing to make the top 8 in Super Street Fighter IV, falling victim first to Vance "Vangief" Wu, and soon after to Taiwanese player Bruce "GamerBee" Hsiang. Melty Blood: Actress Again was included after a poll on Shoryuken.com to decide on the final game of the tournament, beating out Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Soulcalibur IV, and The King of Fighters XII. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger was to be included, but after a majority of the community moved on to BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, the decision was made to replace it with Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Also notable was G4's limited coverage of the event, even offering X-Play host Adam Sessler for commentary of the Super Street Fighter IV finals.
For Evo 2011, a tournament season was announced in which players could earn ranking points at one of eight tournaments. It took place at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino from July 29 to 31, utilizing a ballroom. All 50 states of the U.S. were represented, as well as 44 additional countries. Its livestream was watched by over 2 million unique viewers on UStream over the course of the event.
In attendance was Street Fighter series producer Ono Yoshinori, who announced a free balance patch for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada was also on hand to show new mechanics for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and Soulcalibur V. Other unreleased games shown were Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, King of Fighters XIII, Skullgirls and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition. A Skullgirls side tournament was held in which the winner received a one-of-a-kind Skullgirls-themed arcade stick. Media outlets G4, GameSpot and Destructoid were all present to cover the event.
Evo 2012 took place July 6 to 8, 2012, at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. On January 3, Joey Cuellar announced that Evo 2012 would have 6 main tournament games, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition , Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat, Soulcalibur V, The King of Fighters XIII and Street Fighter X Tekken. The tournament series from the previous year returned, featuring seeding points for all six games in 17 events all across the world.
Evo 2013 was announced on December 2, 2012. It was held on July 12–14 at Paris Las Vegas. On January 8, Joey Cuellar announced that EVO 2013 would have eight main tournament games, with the first seven revealed being Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition , Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter X Tekken , The King of Fighters XIII, and Persona 4 Arena. The eighth game was voted on by players via online donations, all proceeds of which went to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The eventual winner of the poll was Super Smash Bros. Melee with $94,683 raised for that game, while the total amount of donations was $225,744. Nintendo of America initially sent a cease and desist letter to cancel the streaming of Melee matches, although after popular backlash a live stream was ultimately allowed to be carried out as planned. On May 7, 2013, it was announced that Injustice: Gods Among Us would be a main tournament game, thus expanding the game roster from eight to nine.