EVO 2024 Breaks Esports Record With Over 10,000 Competitors
Evo 2023 was a banner year for the the biggest fighting game tournament on Earth as it shattered all of its previous records. Well, this year Evo is even bigger, shattering its previous record and setting a new one, as the largest amount of competitive entries in a single event ever.
The final #Evo2024 Registration Leaderboard!
— Evo (@Evo) July 1, 2024
For a full deep dive into these numbers head over to: https://t.co/t3ZWqOfamn pic.twitter.com/aJSgEtyLkc
Just HOW MANY people are registered for Evo?
The official Evo twitter account released this week the official registration numbers for this year's tournaments. Street Fighter 6 leads the pack with a staggering 5,265 entries. Even still this is down from the mind-numbing 7,000+ that registered in 2023. Guilty Gear: Strive is also holding strong with over 2,000 entries even though it's down from 2,400 last year. But even though the two largest brackets from last year are down, the entries are more that made up for by games making their debut in 2024.
This year will mark Tekken 8's first Evo and the entries show it. 4,646 players want to test their meddle against the world's best players marking a new record for the Tekken series at Evo. That's followed by Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising with 1,377 players marking a strong first bracket for that game. The final debutante of the bunch, UNIST 2, comes in strong with 785 players. A number that's sure to please the UNI faithful as the series returns as a top bracket.
Evo Entrant Rankings:
- Street Fighter - 5,265 Entrants
- Tekken 8 - 4,646 Entrants
- Guilty Gear: Strive - 2,058 Entrants
- Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - 1,377 Entrants
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - 1,101 Entrants
- Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes - 785 Entrants
- Mortal Kombat 1 - 645 Entrants
- The King of Fighters XV - 375 Entrants
In total, the top 8 games have over 16,000 entries not counting smaller tournaments and side brackets. And while a percentage of that player base are folks entered into multiple brackets, It's still an absolutely massive amount of top level players all looking to make their mark.
Evo's Classic Bracket Continues To Perform
Last year, Evo held its first classic game bracket with Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. The run for that game brought in over 1,300 players and marked a really great homage to the history of Evo. That new tradition is now continuing this year with the Street Fighter III: Third Strike bracket. Like UMvC3 before it, Third Strike brought in over 1,000 entries and will see the main stage at this year's event. Third Strike is known as one of the best video games of all time and is the source of Evo Moment #37 arguably the first viral esports video ever. Considering that it continues to be a draw at Evo, its hard not to expect there to be a classic game at next year's event as well (Capcom vs. SNK 2 please *fingers crossed*)
Evo 2024 begins on July 19th and ends on July 21st.
NORRIS HOWARD