EVO is the biggest tournament in the fighting game community scene. The event hosts selected tournaments for various fighting games, including Super Smash Bros. (both Melee and Smash 4), Tekken, Mortal Kombat X, Killer Instinct and the main highlight, Street Fighter.
This is the first year Street Fighter V will take the spot, replacing Ultra Street Fighter IV, and with that, a surge of world warriors have come to take on the challenge. For comparison, last year’s entry for USFIV was 2227 players, the highest entry number of all the game tourneys that year. The 4000 number comes from this tweet by the tournament organiser themselves:
Street Fighter V has eclipsed 4,000 entrants at #EVO2016 & the number keeps rising! Will you be part of this record breaking tournament?
— EVO (@EVO) April 26, 2016
While Street Fighter V has its issues with the casual crowd, Capcom’s betting on the competitive scene seem to work. More players are interested in setting a mark in the world by competing. But also bear in mind that this is the first year of Street Fighter V, where the skill gap between the top pro players and the newcomers are not as wide as before. So hopefully we can see some upsets by the newcomers and other underdog players throughout the tourney. Or at least some tense battles giving the existing world champions a run for their money.