Evo 2023 is set to be the biggest fighting game tournament in history, with Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 propelling the tournament to new heights.
The Evo event series has long held monolithic status within the fighting game scene and that’s only being further cemented by the next tournament. Registration has locked, with multiple franchises enjoying record competitor counts. The Street Fighter series returns to top billing thanks to the recently released Street Fighter 6. The game will see a record 7,061 competitors take part in its tournament.
It wasn’t just Street Fighter 6 that attracted players. A number of games that were included in Evo 2022 also saw a jump in popularity, including Guilty Gear Strive and Tekken 7. In all, there is an 81% increase in the number of competitors year-over-year. This is an explosive start to Street Fighter 6’s competitive existence and helps to send off a handful of games that likely won’t return in 2024.
Evo 2023 full game list, number of participants confirmed
Evo 2023 will feature eight games including Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. The tournament organizer officially revealed the number of participants for each game on its official website. The full list of games and the number of participants is as follows:
| Game | Participants |
| Street Fighter 6 | 7,061 |
| Guilty Gear Strive | 2,481 |
| Tekken 7 | 1,580 |
| Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 | 1,346 |
| Dragon Ball FighterZ | 838 |
| King of Fighters XV | 666 |
| Melty Blood: Tyle Lumina | 554 |
| Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate | 449 |
In total, there will be 9,182 individuals competing across all eight tournaments with the majority of players competing in more than one game during Evo 2023. The overwhelming majority of those players will be competing in Street Fighter 6 but while one might expect that success to adversely impact other games, it’s having the opposite effect.
Guilty Gear Strive won’t get main event treatment in 2023, but the number of competitors actually increased year-over-year from 2,161 players in 2022 to 2,481. Tekken 7 and Dragon Ball FighterZ also saw a boost in participants. This wasn’t the case with every game though, with King of Fighters XV going from 1,014 players to 666.
The smallest tournament of the year is set to be Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate. This is almost certainly going to be the final chapter for the game at Evo, with Mortal Kombat 1 set to be released later this year.
Arguably the biggest shock of the event is how Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will boast the fourth-largest participation number of any game. The “throwback tournament” will have 1,346 competitors more than a decade after the game’s release. This is the first Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament at Evo since 2017.
When is Evo?
Evo 2023 is scheduled to run from August 4 to August 6. Not all tournaments will end on August 6, with a few of these tournaments likely to wrap on August 5.
The stadium portion of the show will take place on August 6, with the top six of Evo 2023’s biggest games set to play their matches in the Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The final day will also likely see a number of announcements for DLC and potentially for new games.
