Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) and RTS, a new e-sports venture under Endeavor, today announced its acquisition of EVO, one of the most prestigious fighting game tournaments in the world. Founded in 1996, the Evolution Championship Series, commonly known as Evo, is the largest and longest-running one-on-one fighting games event in the world.
“For PlayStation, today’s announcement marks an exciting step in our journey to foster the growth of the fighting game community and esports and support competitive gamers widely on our consoles,”
SIE Statement
“Fighting games are hugely popular on PlayStation consoles, with gamers logging more than 1.1 billion gameplay hours in 2020 alone. We’re committed to breaking down the barriers for gamers to compete at all levels and providing a best-in-class, global platform for them to showcase their skills and passion.”
SIE Statement
SIE also added that the SIE-RTS partnership will involve Evo co-founders Tom and Tony Cannon in an advisory capacity to ensure that Evo “continues to service the fighting game community and support its vibrant growth.”
Considering the rough 2020 that EVO went through, this acquisition must have surely sent a wave of relief throughout the entire company.
EVO 2020 was probably the only event in the world that was cancelled not once, but twice last year. Once due to Covid-19 (of course) and then again due to to the surfacing of sexual abuse and pedophilia allegations against tournament organizer Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar. Both SIE and EVO addressed this situation in their respective announcements of the acquisition.
Here’s what EVO said about their intentions with the deal:
SIE backed EVO’s stance by outlining its own goal of creating a ‘safe and inclusive’ environment for players.
“At PlayStation, we’ve always made that our highest priority. As a collective team, we’ll work closely together to ensure future Evo events are safe and welcoming for the entire community.”
SIE
In their announcement, SIE also revealed that Evo would be returning this year as Evo Online: a fully online competition taking place between August 6 – 8 and August 13 -15. The event will have free entry for all and players across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America will be able to compete in an open format across the following games from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment’s catalogue:
- Tekken 7
- Capcom’s Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
- Warner Bros. Games’ Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (only for North America, Europe and Latin America)
- Arc System Works’ Guilty Gear -Strive –
About Sony
Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. The company operates as one of the most comprehensive media companies on the planet and also holds the distinctions of being the largest video game console company and the second largest video game publisher in the world. Its gaming and network services arm Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best known for producing the popular line of PlayStation consoles.
No Comments on Sony Acquires Evo E-sports Tournament in Partnership with RTS