As we inch closer and closer to the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the numbers of participants have continued to grow. Each game in the lineup has their own tournament to fill up, and while some will obviously be more popular than others, the numbers this year have been staggering to say the least. The president of EVO, Joey Cuellar, has released the final registration numbers, and the game with the most by a long shot was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Here is the full lineup with the number of participants for this years EVO:
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 3492
- Street Fighter V Arcade Edition – 1929
- Tekken 7 – 1885
- Samurai Shodown – 1719
- Mortal Kombat 11 – 1567
- Undernight In -Birth – 1156
- DragonBall FighterZ – 1191
- Soul Calibur 6 – 742
- BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle – 640
As you can see, most of the games registration numbers are very close to each other, with the exception of the top title and the bottom two. Despite launching less than a year ago, Soul Calibur VI’s participants numbers are fairly slim. Whereas a new game in the lineup is usually sought after by competitors, the latest entry in the series doesn’t look like it attracted that much attention. Dragon Ball FighterZ fell quite a bit from it’s top spot last year, but the fact that it’s higher than Soul Calibur VI and BlazeBlue: Cross Tag Battle, two titles that released after, shows that it’s still very popular in the fighting game community.
Speaking of long term, it’s no shock that Street Fighter V Arcade Edition continues to be featured in the competition. The franchise is the longest tenured fighting game series in the event’s history, so even if the number of competitors were dwindled down to dead last, their is no way that it would be taken out of it’s rotation. However, one game stands above all in terms of registered competitors, and that’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Finishing the list with a whopping 3,492 participants, Nintendo’s brawler has come out to show that it belongs in EVO.
To be fair, the games popular predecessor Melee was removed from the lineup after being included for many years, which more than likely helped it’s ascension to the top of the lineup. But it’s much more than that, as Ultimate is arguably the most complete fighting game out there, with an insane amount of fighters to choose from, and numerous other features that keep players coming back for more. The final numbers have been shown, and soon enough the competitors themselves will be heading out to Las Vegas to claim the top prize in their respective tournaments.
EVO 2019 takes place on August 2 Friday-August 4, Sunday at The Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
