Evo 2022 lineup revealed: Melty Blood, Skullgirls joins SFV, Guilty Gear Strive, more

The Evolution Championship Series is finally coming back to the Mandalay Bay convention center this August 5-7, 2022. As such, the now traditional stream announcement show kicked off with great interest. While it's already been confirmed that Nintendo has pulled Smash from its ranks, it has freed up RTS and Evo to choose some games that haven't gotten the shine they deserved in the past.

Notably, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Melty Blood: Type Lumina, and Granblue Fantasy Versus will be making their main stage debut at this event. They will join franchises that have a storied history at Evo, including Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Dragonball Fighterz, and King of Fighters.

These games were all announced alongside various exhibitions and FGC celebrity appearances. It was a who's who of FGC commentators, analysts, and top pros showing off what these games are all about. As Evo is perhaps the largest showcase in esports for the FGC, it's always been a window into that community for those who are not engaged. This stream represented that spirit well.

Evo 2022 will feature the largest footprint in tournament history. This means that there will be not only more space for people to move around the event, but also plenty of setups and room for community events to be run. The tournament is so big, that all of Combo Breaker would fit inside just the community area.

“We are thrilled to present a slate of fighting games representing so many of the genre's player-bases for Evo 2022,” said Rick “TheHadou” Thiher, General Manager of Evo. “Our team is incredibly excited to once-again host them in offline competition at Evo this August. There is nothing like the global Fighting Game Community's energy when we gather for Evo, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing what happens when we start the event series' next chapter together later this year.”

Evo has played host to some of the most iconic moments in fighting game history. It's also one of the longest-running tournament series in esports, with the tournament series kicking off way back in 2002 under the Evo name. Before that, it was known as Battle by the Bay, and held in California, in the arcades as far back as 1996. The founders, Tom and Tony Cannon, have gone on to work for Riot Games and are currently working on Project L. It's possible that we see more about that game later this summer at Evo, as the pair hinted.

Evo has had a long history of acting as the E3 of fighting games, so it's possible that Capcom will have more to show on Street Fighter 6 there as well.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for all the latest on the fighting game community as we return to some normalcy in 2022.