The EVO 2022 lineup includes a final hurrah for Street Fighter 5, as well as an exciting debut for King of Fighters 15.
With COVID-19 starting to subside, physical events are returning and that includes EVO. EVO 2022 will return to Las Vegas and include the fanfare of a revealing spectacle. The main stage matches were revealed on Tuesday night, with some before the EVO stream even ended.
Here are the main stage games coming to EVO 2022:
- Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition
- Guilty Equipment Effort
- Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
- Tekken 7
- king of fighters 15
- Melty Blood: Lumina-Type
- Dragon Ball Fighter Z
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus
- Skullgirls
As the EVO stream continued on Twitch, the rest of the EVO 2022 lineup leaked, indicating that Skullgirls will be the ninth and final match in the fighting game tournament mega show. This continues the wild comeback story of Skullgirls, which was also played on the main stage of EVO 2021 Online. The game was given new life after a gruesome scandal with Mike Zaimont, the head of Lab Zero Games, and after intellectual property holder Autumn Games cut ties with the embattled developer.
The other thing to note about this lineup is that it will likely act as a final hurrah for Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition. With Street Fighter 6 officially announced a few weeks ago, this game should be ready to roll out by the time of EVO 2023. Of course, a development schedule (or even official gameplay) hasn’t been revealed, so things could always change.
A comeback story sets the stage for a series of remarkable rebuffs. The most obvious is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which EVO organizers revealed a few weeks ago won’t be returning due to Nintendo’s interference. A less obvious snub is Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown, which released as a PlayStation Plus giveaway in June. Sega’s revival doesn’t seem to have generated enough buzz to keep it in the fighting game conversation.
EVO 2022 will come to Las Vegas, NV August 5-7 and will be the first live EVO since being purchased by Sony and RTS.
