In the Fighting game community, Christmas happens around August. This isn’t because we’re all secretly Australian, quite the opposite- it’s because the whole FGC stops and congregates in the summer to bear witness to the Evolution Pro Championship– better known as EVO.

Every summer (well, not every since the bad times), the best players in the world gather in Las Vegas for the peak of the FGC- a whole multi-game celebration of a laughable niche genre that spawned memes to haunt both Justin Wong and the Melty Blood community for life.

Despite being one of the most hyped esports events of the year, the steep buy-in for fighting games has always made EVO a bit of a mystery to the outside world. What’s a plink? Why do I have to make a weird Z motion with my thumb? What the hell does any of this have to do with all those videos of guys singing weird songs about someone getting f*cked because they’re losing?

While actually learning fighting games continues to be its own commitment, this year’s EVO sent a clear message- your developers know you love their games and are working hard to make them worthy of that adoration. If you’d like to read more, do consider subscribing to our newsletter so you can read more about it. You can read it for free by putting your email address in the box below:

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