It’s a massive celebration of the fighting games esports! The top players are here, and the World Tours kick off a new season. Evo Japan 2025 has even more to offer.
Global Finals of the previous official circuits happened a while ago, and the fighting games community (FGC) is hungry for more top-level action. After a break, the World Tours are back for the biggest titles.
The best players in the world gather in Tokyo to battle at Evo Japan 2025, earn early standing points, and create a wonderful experience for everyone at the venue and online. Evo Japan 2025 is an iconic event! It brings lots of excitement, and we highlight some of the best things you should keep an eye on during the tournaments.
Where to watch Evo Japan 2025?
Schedule of Evo Japan 2025
The main lineup includes six games, and five of them are highlighted on the English stream. In addition to this, the community is pretty interested in one specific side tournament: FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves joins the big esports scene.
Game | Date | US West | US East | Europe | Japan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves * | May 9 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| The King of Fighters XV | May 10 | 6 p.m. PT, May 9 | 9 p.m. ET, May 9 | 3 a.m. CEST | 10 a.m. JST |
| Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising | May 10 | 9 p.m. PT, May 9 | 12 a.m. ET | 6 a.m. CEST | 1 p.m. JST |
| Guilty Gear Strive | May 10 | 2 a.m. PT | 5 a.m. ET | 11 a.m. CEST | 6 p.m. JST |
| TEKKEN 8 | May 11 | 6 p.m. PT, May 10 | 9 p.m. ET, May 10 | 3 a.m. CEST | 10 a.m. JST |
| Street Fighter 6 | May 11 | 9:30 p.m. PT, May 10 | 12:30 a.m. ET | 6:30 a.m. CEST | 1:30 p.m. JST |
* FATAL FURY is on a Japanese stream. We will add the details when the info is officially confirmed.
The full Evo Japan 2025 schedule is in the images below.
7 things not to miss at Evo Japan 2025
Being part of this fighting games esports event is a great experience, even if you join the fun online. Still, what about the cherry on the Evo Japan 2025 cake? Here are a few things that make the tournaments even more special.
1. World Tours 2025 for six games
The new esports season starts for TEKKEN 8, Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.
It’s generally awesome to witness how top competitors rush into the new circuits to battle for leaderboard placements. Evo Japan 2025 is a fresh page for the esports community, and the event has the highest tier within:
- TEKKEN World Tour 2025
- Capcom Pro Tour 2025
- Arc World Tour 2025
Sure, all the top players are here, but with some sad exceptions. Arslan Ash cannot attend due to visa issues. It’s the problem he talked about after a big team tournament, TEKKEN 8 Pakistan vs Korea.
The SNK World Championship 2025 continues with The King of Fighters XV and FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves tournaments. The winners earn direct invites to the Global Finals event.
In addition to this, FATAL FURY, Street Fighter 6, and TEKKEN 8 at Evo Japan 2025 have qualifiers for the Esports World Cup 2025.
2. FATAL FURY CotW has the first big esports tournament
The game has been out for just around three weeks. This period is obviously too short for the pro community to figure out everything in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves. However, it’s a pretty good moment to start competing seriously.
FATAL FURY is not part of the main lineup, but it’s present at Evo Japan 2025 as a side tournament. We will be able to see such a top level of competition for the first time!
Having FATAL FURY: CotW being part of the SNK World Championship 2025 and Esports World Cup 2025 qualifiers makes the battle more serious and more spectacular.
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3. Top-level highlights of new characters
It’s been a few months since we all gathered for the Grand Finals of TEKKEN World Tour 2024 and Arc World Tour 2024. New characters have joined the games since then, and they may have a presence at Evo Japan 2025.
- Anna Williams is part of the TEKKEN 8 roster
- Venom is playable in Guilty Gear Strive
It’s always impressive to see what top professionals can do with new fighting game characters with the high stakes of World Tours. Also, the tournaments should reveal the current state of the metas.
4. Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact: A new playable demo and exhibition matches
We are approaching the release date of the Hunter x Hunter fighting game. Moreover, it was officially confirmed that Nen Impact is in the main lineup of Evo France 2025.
For those who can’t wait to see more of this tag-team anime fighting game, tune in for the main Japanese stream on Friday, May 9. The event features interesting exhibition matches. It is unclear if they will be highlighted in the English stream.
A new build of Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact is playable for everyone on the venue. We can expect lots of videos from FGC influencers, like we saw at Evo Japan 2024.
5. A peek at upcoming characters
Evo Japan is a chance for the developers to reveal some upcoming characters via trailers or playable demos.
- Andy Bogard is the first DLC fighter of FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves. He is playable at the event. There should be enough feedback on him on the Internet.
- Elena joins Street Fighter on June 5. We’ve already seen her gameplay reveal, and Capcom may decide to show their traditional character guide during Evo Japan 2025.
- TEKKEN 8 keeps silent about the next DLC character. We may get some hints on who comes to Season 2 after Anna.
- The gang of female fighters with prominent features gets another mighty girl. Galeon was teased for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising. The community certainly wants to see more, considering the gameplay.
6. TEKKEN 8 Season 2 and the showcase of the current Street Fighter 6 meta
Season 2 changes in TEKKEN 8 threw the game into a period of turbulence. Some of them were reversed, and the developers had to apologize. We need to see what’s going on with the game on the top competitive level in terms of mechanics and characters.
There already was a big tournament at LVL UP Expo 2025, with Arslan Ash and Rangchu battling in the grand final.
As for Street Fighter 6, the situation around this game is different. Beyond the introduction of new characters, it has not been getting big adjustments since Recovery Drive Reversal. Capcom promises a massive update with the release of Elena, so Evo Japan 2025 is one of the last chances to witness the current meta.
7. Unique niche tournaments
When was the last time you saw Soulcalibur II having an esports tournament? Well, this happens at Evo Japan 2025!
Some other niche games are also featured at the event.
- Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is a special game for Japan, and it has the team-based 5v5 Cooperation Cup.
- Virtua Fighter 5 REVO is part of a 5v5 competitive series.
- DNF Duel is a great anime fighting game that doesn’t receive proper attention. It has a side tournament at Evo Japan 2025.
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves is the previous FATAL FURY game that was released around 25 years ago. The community is hyped about the series, so even this installment has its competitive presence at the event.
The esports season starts with Evo Japan 2025, and the next stop is right around the corner: Combo Breaker 2025 is from May 23 to May 25.
Another big fighting game is absent from Japanese tournaments: Mortal Kombat is banned in the country. However, we have Pro Kompetition 2025 qualifiers up and running in other regions. MK1 gamescom LATAM was the most recent tournament.
For all fighting games news and updates, stick around on esports.gg.
