How Evo 2024 unites the FGC: “Evo is the Super Bowl of fighting game tournaments.”

Evo Las Vegas 2024 featured legendary competitors duke it out for gold and glory. What made the event even more spectacular were the Mortal Kombat 1 fans loudly cheering for their favorites, the talented folks in artist alley, and rising stars playing games like Street Fighter 6 and TEKKEN 8." As esports.gg explored the venue, we chatted with folks of the fighting game community (FGC) to learn more about what Evo means to them and more!

While watching the last few matchups of Dominique "SonicFox" McLean before they ultimately took first place, esports.gg met spectators Jacob "Skinny" Hennessy and Michael "BraveTheShave" Pritchard. While Skinny said he's always excited to see SonicFox make another grand finals run, BraveTheShave shared that he's happy to see Mileena and Baraka being played by competitors.

Both of these community members flew to Evo 2024 Las Vegas from Oregon. To them, it was a short flight and a small price to pay to be part of the FGC in person. BraveTheShave told esports.gg how the pandemic killed the fighting games scene back home.

"When the lockdowns happened, a lot of the events we did were through colleges and universities," he said. "With the lockdowns, we just never got anywhere with a building to actually get a bunch of people on. So a lot of what people do up in the PNW now is just the Discord stuff. Most of the time, it's a really big struggle for PNW guys to actually find something."

Skinny agreed, adding how Oregon doesn't have a scene for Mortal Kombat 1. "Especially for Mortal Kombat. There's nothing in Oregon for that," he said. "So you have to pretty much do everything online. Mostly, I end up playing Coliseum tournaments."

When asked about their experience at Evo 2024, BraveTheShave revealed that it's the best event ever. Everyone has been so nice and accommodating — even the so-called toxic aspects of it all are just fun and games. Playing sets with others, trying new games, and enjoying the arcade have made this one of the best events he's experienced.

"Evo is the Super Bowl of fighting game tournaments," Skinny told esports.gg. "Every time you come, it's exciting."

Elsewhere at the venue was Ricky "Tilian" Sizemore, who attended Evo 2024 just to play Street Fighter 6. The Marisa player revealed that he actually took time off work from the University of Florida in order to attend his first-ever Evo. To him, competing is not just a fun side hobby, but also a self-improvement project.

"It's kind of bigger than I expected. So I'm a Florida local and I went to CEO this past year, TNS 9 that happened just before that, a couple of others like Florida monthly and local events," Tilian said when asked about his first Evo experience. "And those always felt really big, but Evo just blows that out of proportion. It's just kind of jarring to look around and see the size of the venue. I haven't even stepped into the arena yet, but I know that it's gonna be crazy to see as well."

The TEKKEN 8 area was filled with supporters looking over the shoulders of their favorite players. One of them was Jalon "J1NZO" Ortiz, who shared his excitement about seeing people uniting for a shared hobby. He had only practiced two weeks before Evo 2024 Las Vegas, having taken a break to play other games. Although his practice routine wasn't every night, he still managed to prepare in time for the competition.

J1NZO described the scene in Southern California as well, noting that it's of high caliber and includes players such as Averiery RiB, Speedkicks, and Dr.theJAKEMAN, M.D.

"Overall, Evo has been a fun experience," he said. "We have the old-school arcade that's just really cool to see. Artist alley, too. Love seeing all these artists making art — and not just FGC stuff, but also anime as well. It's cool to see people getting together for a hobby that we all like."

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more interviews, news, and updates across the FGC!