EVO-lution: How EVO is adapting to explosive growth and international demand

LAS VEGAS – The largest fighting game tournament in the World is coming back to Vegas to continue its run.

EVO Vegas will once again take over the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall from Aug. 1 through Aug. 3.

The event has been a staple in Las Vegas since 2005. It has hopped from a variety of venues in the city, growing from the Green Valley Ranch Resort to ultimately taking over the LVCC West Hall.

In 2024, EVO hosted its largest event, with more than 10,000 participants taking part in a wide range of fighting games.

"Being able to come to take part of that, to live at that at the moment with all of those activities that are on site, all the other players and fans that show up at the show, I think is a really unique experience,” EVO general manager Rick Thiher said. “There is a, particularly if you really love fighting games, an almost pilgrimage quality to it."

EVO-lution of the Event

EVO, in its current iteration, started in 2002 as a tournament hosted on the campus of UCLA. It moved to Cal Poly Pomona for the 2003 and 2004 editions before settling in Las Vegas.

Since its inception, however, the popularity of fighting games exploded, growing to the point where small hotel spaces weren’t big enough, forcing the event to head toward larger convention space.

In 2025, an estimated 18,000 attendees came to the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall to either play in the tournament or enjoy the exhibit floor. It’s a far cry from the first post-COVID event, which drew an estimated 7,500 fans and competitors.

“Growth has been fantastic. Last year was the single largest EVO that we've ever hosted, single largest offline competitive gaming event, video gaming event that's ever been hosted,” Thiher said. “That was a cool thing to be part of."

But the growth hasn’t been limited to the United States.

Since 2018, EVO Japan has been a staple in the fighting game circuit. The 2025 edition, which took place from May 9 to May 11, was the largest EVO Japan to date.

The popularity of the EVO brand prompted the addition of a third event to the circuit.

Expanding to Europe

At EVO 2024, it was announced that the brand was heading to a new location – Nice, France.

The inaugural EVO France is scheduled to take place in Nice from Oct. 10 to Oct. 12.

It was a no-brainer for EVO to host an event in Europe.

Thiher wanted to allow European players to play in an EVO event without the hassle of flying to the United States or Japan.

“We wanted to continue working on EVO's international expansion, bringing the event to fan bases that don't have easy access to it,” Thiher said. “If you're in Europe, yes, you can come to the United States for the event in Vegas, you can go to Japan for the event in Tokyo, but those aren't as accessible as something near home. And so we want to get over into that region."

Logistically, Nice offered advantages in various ways.

The first was that there was a precedent for hosting major fighting game tournaments in France, such as Ultimate Fighting Arena and The Mix Up.

The second was that the city itself offers a distinct atmosphere compared to Las Vegas and Tokyo.

“We haven't had an event that's in a moderate climate by a beach in an almost tourist destination city,” Thiher said. “That's not a tourist destination in the Vegas sense or tourist destination in the Tokyo sense. I think Nice offers that really well."

Growing Pains

Naturally, growth comes with the pains of adapting to both the casual and hardcore player.

EVO’s growth, while mostly positive, has had a few moments of adapting to the newfound popularity.

In 2024, many fans complained about the inability to watch event finals in the arena due to limited capacity.

Thiher said it was a logical struggle to balance the history of keeping the arena open to fans and adapting the scale of the event.

"The entry to the arena experience last year. That's a friction point,” Thiher said. “You want to keep that open entry. That's a friction You want to hearken back to it because it feels good when you're moving into a new event environment to try to bring back a piece of that legacy event experience.

“Then when you have an event scale to the size that it does and a fan base that interacts with the show differently than that legacy, that concept doesn't work in a legacy format where you're gating that experience."

Changes are expected to be made to the venue for the 2025 edition, including larger viewing screens and more seats. However, the arena setup is anticipated to be “gated,” meaning separate arena tickets will be sold.

But that’s not to say that the fans who do not get an arena ticket are out of luck.

EVO plans on having special viewing areas in the convention space to help fans watch Sunday’s Top 8 events.

“Anytime you're dealing with an event that's experiencing exponential growth, a lot of how you deal with logistics is going to be a combination of tried and true outputs and experimental opportunities,” Thiher said. “The middle point of those, I think, is going to produce the most successful event possible.

Riding the Tide

Thiher is excited about EVO’s growth and future.

He expects the event to continue growing and evolving with the times.

"The interest in both competitive fighting games and this combination of competitive events and culture convention that EVO has become,” Thiher said. “I know it's not actually endless. All things have a ceiling, but the potential for what we could do and for what the fan enthusiasm for it is doesn't feel like a well that has a bottom or anywhere near."