The world's largest fighting game tournament will return next year, and it has plans to take over the Mandalay Bay convention center once again.
The Evolution Championship Series, or Evo for short, will take place July 14-16 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Evo released a trailerhighlighting the top moments from this year's event.
The first Evo, in 2002, only featured three games. Fourteen years later, Evo 2016 had ballooned to nine games officially on display. With it, prize pools and attendance also increased. In 2002, Super Street Fighter II had 40 entrants. Earlier this year, Street Fighter V had more than 5,000 people sign up. The prize pool for Street Fighter V was also a record $101,070 for Evo.
The Street Fighter V finals were also aired on ESPN2, a major accomplishment for the Fighting Game Community.
All eyes are on which games will return to Evo next year. Street Fighter V is a given, with the strong potential of Super Smash Bros. Melee, which saw the second highest total viewership. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has a good chance of returning, as well as Mortal Kombat.
Evolution never has a consistent lineup of games, and each year brings some surprises. This year, Pokkén tournament was introduced, with the Pokémon Company adding $10,000 to the prize pool. The finals only saw 23,300 viewers, however.
In the approaching months, Evo will be announcing the full lineup of games.