Fans of the fighting game's biggest esport event, EVO 2021 Showcase, and what was to be the fighting game tournament's triumphant return to Las Vegas, has unfortunately been canceled due to COVID-19 safety precautions, organizers announced Wednesday. Fans might be wondering about the EVO 2021 Showcase event from earlier this year. That was EVO 2021 Online, which was held last month as an online version of EVO, with players competing in Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, and Guilty Gear Strive.
Originally, the EVO 2021 Showcase was going to bring in top finishers from around the world who competed in Evo 2021 Online and have them battle it out in-person on Nov. 27 and 28 in Las Vegas at the UFC APEX Sports Complex. The EVO 2021 Showcase was meant as an invite-only in-person event and it was going to be a total of 40 players who would have competed for a prize pool of $125,000 spread across five games. It was also presumed there would be some type of audience. The announcement was made today that the event was to be canceled but they promised that they, "will continue to work towards the return of the big, live events that you expect from us."
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This announcement, of canceling again for the second year in a row, took the wind from the fan's sails, however, none were more disappointed than the competitors taking place in the event. The EVO organizers were quick to highlight the players though in the cancelation. “The players invited to participate in the EVO 2021 Showcase represent many of the best fighters in the world, " EVO said in its blog post. “We’re incredibly saddened to cancel the event.”
EVO organizers added that they would be reaching out individually to invited competitors "to recognize their efforts." Although, it wasn't made clear if that meant the prize-pool money will be allocated to those competitors, if it's taken off the table entirely, or they would just have to wait for the rescheduling. There was also no added information as to the lineup of games we can expect to see at EVO 2022.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began sweeping across North America, the EVO 2020 Showcase was made an online-only event. Unfortunately, it too was canceled but that was ultimately due to major sponsors pulling their support following allegations. This led to Sony assumed co-ownership of EVO earlier this year, after allegations of abuse and harassment resulted in former EVO CEO Joey Cuellar resigning. Two of EVO's co-founders, Tom and Tony Cannon, now serve in an advisory role to Sony and a talent management venture called RTS.
Despite fans having to wait a little longer, the good news is that EVO 2021 will return as the EVO 2022 Showcase and is currently scheduled for August 5-7 in Las Vegas as an in-person event. Fingers crossed it won't be canceled again so we can watch some of the greatest fighting game competitors hash it out in some of our favorite games.
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Source: EVO