The fighting game genre saw a resurgence over the past couple of years, bolstered by strong releases such as Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. Now its biggest event, Evo 2024, is set to break a record thanks to the large number of players set to attend.
When Evo takes place next month, it will break the record for most unique competitors at an esport event, with over 10,224 individual players set to compete in various events. This represents the first time an esports event has reached over 10,000 unique competitors.
While the numbers are surely bolstered by the growing hype for fighting games – Street Fighter 6 regularly breaks six-figure viewership numbers for certain events – Evo 2024's format surely helps.
Unlike most other esport genres, most major fighting game tournaments usually feature open brackets. This means that just about anyone is able to enter regardless of whether they're a professional player, actually playing for a living, or just an amateur off the street.
Indeed, Evo already held the record for most competitors for an esport event, with the 2016 edition, which reached a total of 9,833 unique entrants. 2024, however, will be the first time that Evo – or any esport event for that matter – breaks the 10,000 competitor barrier. (Read: Evo Japan 2024: all the announcements and reveals)
Beyond the total attendance record, Evo 2024 will also see some games break new game and franchise records for some titles. For one, Tekken 8's tournament at Evo will be the most attended Tekken tournament in Evo history. The same goes for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, which is seeing more entrants compared to its predecessor's runs at Evo.
For individual games, this year's Throwback Game tournament for Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will have the most entrants ever in the game's history – even more than during the game's heyday.
For a full breakdown of entrants per game, Evo has yet to release actual numbers, however, it states it will do so "very soon," as registration only closed this Monday, June 24, 2024.
Evo 2024 takes place at a new venue this year, the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The new venue boasts 600,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space on top of 800,000 square feet of ancillary program and support spaces. This expanded space should hopefully be enough to hold Evo 2024's record-breaking numbers when it takes place from July 19 to 21, 2024.
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