Evo Championships 2024 in Las Vegas July 19th-21st - $30,00 Prize Pool

"The Evolution Championship Series (Evo for short) is the largest and longest-running fighting game tournaments in the world. During Evo's flagship event each year, players and fans gather to compete in open format tournaments that crowns World Champions.At Evo, you'll see established champions face off against unknown rivals. You'll find players who have only fought online building real-life friendships and rivalries. You'll find people new to fighting games discovering a culture turning them into life-long fans. Everything that makes fighting games special is at the heart of Evo, and it is all in one place at Evo 2024!"

Mortal Kombat 1 at Evo this year has 645 entrants which is just okay if you ask me. With the start of the game and Pro Komp just coming to an end, there wasn't much at stake for folks to come out of pocket for Evo. It will likely be a two day event however so if you planning to watch I would set Friday and Saturday aside for MK specifically. We will see cause I found this "All 8 official tournament finals will be featured on Evo's main stage." Once the stream schedule is out I will add it in here on where and when to watch. Once pools are released I will add them here as well.

Evo 2024

The best place for Evo 2024 brackets, streams, standings and schedules all in one place!

www.start.gg

For those familiar with the event, this year is going to be quite different as it is the first year in a long time that it will not be at Mandalay Bay, and is now in the Las Vegas Convention Center. This means more of a walk and further distance from the strip and airport which could effect the attendee experience but we will see. More space and I heard crazier productions are in store.

Are you going? Will you be watching?

 

The game has had a Lundry list of major issues from launch and every patch to this point, as well as standard modes/features that aren't present yet almost a year later. It is truly unacceptable on every level. Game deserves all the hate it can get.

Even through all that I'd still be playing regularly if the only character I enjoy playing didn't suck.

See y'all at EVO.

 

When MK fans cite the ban on MK in many Asian markets as the reason for low entrant numbers in American tournaments, are they exaggerating the number of Japanese/korean players that come to the USA to play sf//tekken? Somehow I don’t think this number of players traveling from Asia is that big a portion of the total entrants to Evo. I presently have no official figures though to back it up I’ll have to try to do some maths if that data is available for past evos. My guess is it’s maybe 10% of the players there are international (not from the USA)

The effect is certainly marginal and not worth discussing imo.

 

Tweedy's most recent YouTube video...

This video also engages in the fallacy that a game has to be "big in Japan" (not his actual quote) to have an FGC presence in the USA. American scenes like Smash, or Marvel Vs Capcom 2 thrived because of the dedication of local tournament organizers and players here in USA. Those are games that I believe were bigger Stateside than they were across the pacific.

Also, sadly, Tweedy is coping a bit when he says the anime games all share players. Anime players are not a monolith. I think Tweedy's statement might have been more true during the days of traditional anime games like Xrd or Blazblue or Melty Blood (ie the last generation of games). This current generation (Strive, Granblue Vs) don't have the same "air dasher" gameplay. At the big Anime FGC event in Boston, Boston Blue Beat, old legacy games like BlazBlue Central Fiction are the main event. The newer games have a distinct, younger audience. They've successfully brought in this new anime-loving gen Z audience by concentrating on visuals and watering down the character complexity associated with anime fighting games. Arc Sys Works, developers of Strive gambled BIG with Strive by Street Fighter-izing the gameplay. The "hard game" stigma that followed Guilty Gear around is no longer there. Commercially Strive is a hit, but the legacy anime FGC disowned Strive. It just succeeded in bringing a whole new audience (which is where I think NRS has stagnated, they try to reinvent the wheel each time and this time it didn't come out so round).

 

The thing about numbers is that people don't actually look deeply into them, and mostly just use them to make excuses for not showing up.

"It reflects the state of the game" - ok. Why did the SF community show up when SF5 launched in an absolutely dismal state? Because they don't make excuses not to support their own scene even when the state of the game is controversial. Also, this means the state of MK11 must have been amazing in 2019. Can't have it both ways.

"It's the lack of pot bonuses" - SF6, Strive, Smash at CEO didn't have pot bonuses. If you want larger payouts at every single major, you need to encourage people to come out and add their reg. to the pot instead of telling them to stay home.

"The numbers were super huge year one of X game" - yes, many players from other games play NRS games for 3-4 months and quit. And we do the same! How many NRS players said "I'm playing T8", played it for 3-4 months, and went right back to MK? You'll have far more "non MK-player" entrants if your game is at a major within 3-4 months of release. The difference is that when all the Capcom, Tekken, Arcsys players stop playing MK after 3-4 months, our core community is (and has always been) much smaller. If we want to grow it faster, we need to stop discouraging people from showing up.

Learn to support your competitive scene in some way, even if it's just bringing attention to the positive things that happen at each event. Want to grow? Share the hype of the 600+ players who show up and support our scene, and all the top players from around the world who will play great sets at EVO this year. If no one else is making excuses, we shouldn't be either.

 

I haven't been to an EVO in at least 8 years. Wanted to go this time around since I hear it's turning into a "Con" esque atmosphere. Pulled out last minute for a side reason. Kind of pissed, because there will COTW cabs there, fooqin hell.

Wish the spectator badges were cheaper, id last minute drive up.

Good luck ye Heathens.

 

so why did the Capcom community show up when SF5 launched in an absolutely dismal state? Because they don't make excuses not to support their own scene even when the state of the game is controversial.

I appreciate your calls to support the comp scene but I wanted to respond to this because sometimes it really is a problem with the game itself/dev support/"optics" and not a problem with the community. Capcom almost didn't release SF5 without support from Sony, and after the first season it was all hands on deck to add modes, skins, 1player content - Capcom fudged the release but absolutely was in it for the long haul. I would say that's more on Capcom having the trust of their consumers to turn something around. I'm in my 40s so I'm from the generation where people associate Capcom with high quality games.

Even then, a LOT of '09ers who entered the FGC for SFIV left Street Fighter for Tekken when SF V came out. SFV was really frustrating to people who took the time to get good at 4 (5 was disparaged as a baby game!). It's funny that Tekken is always around to absorb players like that, because the FGC knows TEKKEN isn't on a 2-year product cycle. There's more trust in the brand I guess.

edit: the point of this post is I don't think you can solely put the blame on players

 

I appreciate your calls to support the comp scene but I wanted to respond to this because sometimes it really is a problem with the game itself/dev support/"optics" and not a problem with the community. Capcom almost didn't release SF5 without support from Sony, and after the first season it was all hands on deck to add modes, skins, 1player content - Capcom fudged the release but absolutely was in it for the long haul. I would say that's more on Capcom having the trust of their consumers to turn something around. I'm in my 40s so I'm from the generation where people associate Capcom with high quality games.

Even then, a LOT of '09ers who entered the FGC for SFIV left Street Fighter for Tekken when SF V came out. SFV was really frustrating to people who took the time to get good at 4 (5 was disparaged as a baby game!). It's funny that Tekken is always around to absorb players like that, because the FGC knows TEKKEN isn't on a 2-year product cycle. There's more trust in the brand I guess.

I dont wish bad stuff on games but the good thing about Street Fighter being the way it was at the time was that it did encourage a lot of Capcom diehards to try other games (You saw a lot of this on youtube/twitch) I think this also helped to promote the other games.

 

The thing about numbers is that people don't actually look deeply into them, and mostly just use them to make excuses for not showing up.

"It reflects the state of the game" - ok. Why did the SF community show up when SF5 launched in an absolutely dismal state? Because they don't make excuses not to support their own scene even when the state of the game is controversial. Also, this means the state of MK11 must have been amazing in 2019. Can't have it both ways.

"It's the lack of pot bonuses" - SF6, Strive, Smash at CEO didn't have pot bonuses. If you want larger payouts at every single major, you need to encourage people to come out and add their reg. to the pot instead of telling them to stay home.

"The numbers were super huge year one of X game" - yes, many players from other games play NRS games for 3-4 months and quit. And we do the same! How many NRS players said "I'm playing T8", played it for 3-4 months, and went right back to MK? You'll have far more "non MK-player" entrants if your game is at a major within 3-4 months of release. The difference is that when all the Capcom, Tekken, Arcsys players stop playing MK after 3-4 months, our core community is (and has always been) much smaller. If we want to grow it faster, we need to stop discouraging people from showing up.

Learn to support your competitive scene in some way, even if it's just bringing attention to the positive things that happen at each event. Want to grow? Share the hype of the 600+ players who show up and support our scene, and all the top players from around the world who will play great sets at EVO this year. If no one else is making excuses, we shouldn't be either.

I know you're probably say this is an excuse, but it's not really possible to grow or retain players when each MK title plays so different to one another. They build some nice fundamental designs with MK9 and then they scrapped it all with MKX to the point it didn't feel like playing MK. Repeat this with every new release.

Innovation and experimentation is good, but NRS is not marketing their games very efficiently imo. Look at Street Fighter for example. There's a reason for SF Alpha not being a main SF title, or SF EX. If you apply this logic to MK, MK9/X/11/1 not all of them would be main title games and that could result in players having different expectations out of each one of them

 

I appreciate your calls to support the comp scene but I wanted to respond to this because sometimes it really is a problem with the game itself/dev support/"optics" and not a problem with the community. Capcom almost didn't release SF5 without support from Sony, and after the first season it was all hands on deck to add modes, skins, 1player content - Capcom fudged the release but absolutely was in it for the long haul. I would say that's more on Capcom having the trust of their consumers to turn something around. I'm in my 40s so I'm from the generation where people associate Capcom with high quality games.

Before the turnaround, there were far more people talking about losing faith in Capcom due to SFV and MVC:I than being hopeful. But even when SF5 was at its worst and the criticism was blistering, people still showed up to all the tournaments and there were no excuses made.

As far as faith to turn things around for Capcom as a whole, it’s debateable. Cross Tekken was turned around too late to have momentum. MVC:I actually killed the marvel scene. Capcom has had its share of misfires, and that’s why the competitive community skipped a bunch of the Street Fighter releases. But the core SF community will absolutely show up no matter what.

Melee is another example, where they brought their scene back after losing EVO and MLG altogether, being openly shunned by both the developer and the FGC, and having no patches or financial support. If they just made excuses for why they weren’t as big as some other game, it never would have happened.

 

Is anyone surprised? MK1 is a God awful fighting game through and through. It's God awful to play and even more so to watch.

 

I guess what I see from the Tekken/SF community, especially from the older competitive players and content creators, is more of an acceptance of the flaws or differences in the newer games, while in NRS any new release that's less than perfect is labeled trash.

To a certain extent all Fighting Game titles have this issue, where a new game comes out and a portion of the community prefers the old game. But SF/Tekken seem a lot more willing to find the fun in the new game, even if they prefer the old game, while the NRS scene simply trashes the new game and complains that it isn't enough like MK9/MKX.

 

I know you're probably say this is an excuse, but it's not really possible to grow or retain players when each MK title plays so different to one another. They build some nice fundamental designs with MK9 and then they scrapped it all with MKX to the point it didn't feel like playing MK. Repeat this with every new release.

I'll push back on this a little bit. I think the pace of the game has changed, and obviously mechanics/moves have changed, sometimes character archetypes, but for the most part MK is still MK. Block button, string based combo system, similar inputs, similar poke system.

The games feel different and play different, so I'm not surprised someone might prefer one over the other, but MKX/MK11/MK1 all still feel like MK to me.

 

Why did the SF community show up when SF5 launched in an absolutely dismal state?

Players knew that Capcom was going to support Street Fighter 5 for six to seven years. Consequently, players also knew that Capcom would listen to feedback and fix most of the issues that plagued the game. Yoshinori Ono, the producer, also arguably lost his job at Capcom because of Street Fighter 5's abysmal release. Nonetheless...

• I am likely mistaken on the precise numbers, but Capcom reduced the input lag from eight to six frames on the PS4 and to four frames on the PC.
• Capcom included various modes (i.e., story, survival, combo challenges, etc.) to address the complaint that the game lacked single-player content.
• Capcom added a second V-Skill and V-Trigger to each character in order to address the complaint that the game was becoming stale.
• Capcom added DLC characters like Juri, Menat, and Zeku to address the complaint that the game lacked complex characters, gameplay variety, and player expression.
• Capcom implemented V-Shift to address the complaint that the game lacked sufficient defensive mechanics.

What has NRS done to address the complaints, specifically Tom's and mine, surrounding Mortal Kombat 1?

 

I'll push back on this a little bit.

Absolutely. Each one has a different experience. My personal way of approaching MK games post MK9 has been to try it before buying it. In terms of expectations, I fully accept that each new game will be a new totally new experience that I may or may not like. With that in mind, I firmly believe it's extremely difficult to build a united MK community, that's why I don't personally have any expectations on that regard.

 

Players knew that Capcom was going to support Street Fighter 5 for six to seven years. Consequently, players also knew that Capcom would listen to feedback and fix most of the issues that plagued the game. Yoshinori Ono, the producer, also arguably lost his job at Capcom because of Street Fighter 5's abysmal release. Nonetheless...

• I am likely mistaken on the precise numbers, but Capcom reduced the input lag from eight to six frames on the PS4 and to four frames on the PC.
• Capcom included various modes (i.e., story, survival, combo challenges, etc.) to address the complaint that the game lacked single-player content.
• Capcom added a second V-Skill and V-Trigger to each character in order to address the complaint that the game was becoming stale.
• Capcom added DLC characters like Juri, Menat, and Zeku to address the complaint that the game lacked complex characters, gameplay variety, and player expression.
• Capcom implemented V-Shift to address the complaint that the game lacked sufficient defensive mechanics.

What has NRS done to address the complaints, specifically Tom's and mine, surrounding Mortal Kombat 1?

Everything but that last line is totally valid, I think.

It took year(s) before SFV got any significant adjustments iirc.

When was the first dash speed nerf and nerf to jab into V-Trigger?

 

What has NRS done to address the complaints, specifically Tom's and mine, surrounding Mortal Kombat 1?

I mean, I’m not sure NRS is concerned with you or Tom. But so far:

• Crossplay has been added
• The desync issues were fixed
• Several kameos have been buffed, and new kameos seem to be prioritizing flexibility/creativity over single attacks that do everything
• The DLC characters all have very different designs and abilities. Ermac, Peacemaker, Homelander, Quan Chi all have unique gameplay styles
• The Cyrax/Raiden single-attack autopilot meta was removed, as was the single-attack for everything Lao meta
• Invasions has been updated to make it less of a pure slog
• Final Kombat money was raised

We’re less than a year in now. It took Capcom a full five years to add V-shift to SF5. There are obviously some people who won’t like any game, but most of the serious players of MK1 enjoy the game overall, and the majority of their asks are for balance/buffs/nerfs and Pro Tour changes.

 

Everything but that last line is totally valid, I think.

It took year(s) before SFV got any significant adjustments iirc.

When was the first dash speed nerf and nerf to jab into V-Trigger?

Retrospectively, the timeline is of little importance. The fact is that players provided Capcom feedback and issues were consequently resolved, unlike with Mortal Kombat 11 and Mortal Kombat 1.

I mean, I’m not sure NRS is concerned with you or Tom. But so far:

• Crossplay has been added
• The desync issues were fixed
• Several kameos have been buffed, and new kameos seem to be prioritizing flexibility/creativity over single attacks that do everything
• The DLC characters all have very different designs and abilities. Ermac, Peacemaker, Homelander, Quan Chi all have unique gameplay styles
• The Cyrax/Raiden single-attack autopilot meta was removed, as was the single-attack Lao meta
• Invasions has been updated to make it less of a pure slog
• Final Kombat money was raised

We’re less than a year in now. It took Capcom a full five years to add V-shift to SF5. There are obviously some people who won’t like any game, but most of the serious players of MK1 enjoy the game overall, and the majority of their asks are for balance/buffs/nerfs and Pro Tour changes.

Aside from the "yes men", most of whom are obtaining financial benefits, I am not sure if NRS is concerned with what anyone has to say, much less Tom and I.

As far as your list goes, half of those aspects, particularly cross play, functional online gameplay, and engaging single-player content, should have been present in the game day one, as they were in Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

My allegiance is neither to Capcom, Namco, nor NRS. Players ought to hold fighting game companies accountable and demand improvements.

People like you appear to be content with the current state of state of Mortal Kombat 1 while Street Fighter and Tekken are growing every EVO, every tour, every regional tournament. You have been excusing NRS's and WB's actions for far too long. Allow those players who are still passionate about this franchise to speak their minds uncontested. Your approach has evidently failed, as demonstrated by tournament numbers.

 

As far as your list goes, half of those aspects, particularly cross play, functional online gameplay, and engaging single-player content, should have been present in the game day one, as they were in Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8.

And SF5 should have had the normal modes of a fighting game day one and less input lag at launch. What's the difference

Your approach has evidently failed, as demonstrated by tournament numbers.

So by this logic, MK11 was our best-designed competitive fighting game, since it had the highest tournament numbers of any MK game to date. Correct?

You have been excusing NRS's and WB's actions for far too long.

No one has excused anything here. The point was that even when other games were in dismal states or being heavily criticized, people understood the difference between criticizing the game and supporting their scene, and they showed up anyway. Their communities still support their scene and players.

 

And SF5 should have had the normal modes of a fighting game day one and less input lag at launch. What's the difference

The difference is that Capcom supported Street Fighter 5 for seven years, adjustments might have been slow to arrive yet they were eventually implemented, the producer lost his job, the subsequent installment, Street Fighter 6, fixed every issue and then some, etc.

Another difference is that people like Sajam were fired from commentating for speaking the truth about Street Fighter 5's subpar net code. Mortal Kombat 1's commentators and content creators, on the other hand, are preoccupied auditioning for jobs and kissing Ed Boon's ass.

 

Another difference is that people like Sajam were fired from commentating for speaking the truth about Street Fighter 5's subpar net code. Mortal Kombat 1's commentators and content creators, on the other hand, are preoccupied auditioning for jobs and kissing Ed Boon's ass.

And Sajam made dozens of videos spotlighting the competitive scene even when the game was not in a good place. That is how you grow a scene, and that is the kind of leadership that is needed.

Criticism and support for the scene don't have to be mututally exclusive. People who understand this help scenes to grow.

 

I mean, I’m not sure NRS is concerned with you or Tom.

You legit just did a ra ra Call to Arms for the community to support a garbage game for the sake of community. The next post you fully admit that the developer doesn't give two craps about the community that you're trying to rally support for. If NRS doesn't care about Tom/M2Dave who speak to 10k viewers, they sure tf don't care about me or anyone else on this forum. So WHY should those of us who don't like the game support this developer while they work out the kinks?

For the sake of community? Sorry it's not 2011 anymore, and the community is in the same state as the game, it's buns breh. Where's the hype? Where's the feuds? Where's the call outs? This community is as stale as 1939 Soup Kitchen Sourdough. I already supported these turds by taking a lighter to $120.

NRS will never turn this buns game around, it's a developer that is spiraling the drain. Just pray that WBD sells this property to a competent company and we can have MK chars that have some stank on em once more.

 

You legit just did a ra ra Call to Arms for the community to support a garbage game for the sake of community. The next post you fully admit that the developer doesn't give two craps about the community that you're trying to rally support for. If NRS doesn't care about Tom/M2Dave who speak to 10k viewers, they sure tf don't care about me or anyone else on this forum. So WHY should those of us who don't like the game support this developer while they work out the kinks?

For the sake of community? Sorry it's not 2011 anymore, and the community is in the same state as the game, it's buns breh. Where's the hype? Where's the feuds? Where's the call outs? This community is as stale as 1939 Soup Kitchen Sourdough. I already supported these turds by taking a lighter to $120.

NRS will never turn this buns game around, it's a developer that is spiraling the drain. Just pray that WBD sells this property to a competent company and we can have MK chars that have some stank on em once more.

Even if this was 2011, at least that game was fun.

MK1 it's the game where i didn't even got to the 100 hours mark in, many factors included.

 

The point was that even when other games were in dismal states or being heavily criticized, people understood the difference between criticizing the game and supporting their scene, and they showed up anyway. Their communities still support their scene and players.

this seems like it’s referring to someone but honestly I can’t think of any single YouTuber who criticizes the game AND wants the scene to die. On the contrary, critics like Tom Brady lament the lack of drive nrs players have for attending events. I don’t know anyone who says don’t go to events. I was going to say the big MK communities online are ambivalent about the pro-scene. That’s the big difference compared to Tekken or Guilty Gear or SF - those games’ content creators are focused on their competitive scene.

the main people I see talking smack about competitive players is on places like r/mortalkombat or twitter because the non fighting Game fan part of the audience says the lack of single player modes is supposedly because “NRS is catering to the esports crowd.” In truth, NRS isn’t able to cater to either segment.

I think MK1 could turnit around with a massive update and long tail support (I’m talking 4-5 years!) they need to get some good PR, Christ. If they can add to mk1 like Capcom did SFV we are golden imo but also it’s foolishly wishful to expect them to do that. If they announce another game a year from now I think they’ll be back where they started as far as competitive numbers go (no growth)

 

Even if this was 2011, at least that game was fun.

MK1 it's the game where i didn't even got to the 100 hours mark in, many factors included.

Not only was the game fun (amazingly so), the community was Hype af. People would be talking crap all the damn time. The current community legit hug after rounds. "Sorry I won buddy, you will get me next time, let's go share a vanilla malt with one straw."

Not to say that a community needs acrimony to be hype, but it does need a little stank on it. SF's community is a million times more interesting. That could be due to life changing money being on the line.

What does MK offer in terms of value?

Game Quality- Nay
Community- What community?
Personalities- Other than Lord Brady, who is entertaining? It's a Zzz factory. Sorry a chair breaking a light isn't hype.

I barely cracked a 100 hours my ownself on this crap show.

I put thousands of hours into MK9
MKX 900
MK11 300-400 I forget

@Eddy Wang and I'm only speaking to you my brutha. I know you love this franchise to death, but these scoundrels legitimately fatalied your passion for the franchise with this half ass abortion of a video game. I'd bet the farm that your once vibrant African MK Community is non-existent thanks to NRS. They couldn't even support your region. Don't worry, it's coming soon.

 

Not only was the game fun (amazingly so), the community was Hype af. People would be talking crap all the damn time. The current community legit hug after rounds. "Sorry I won buddy, you will get me next time, let's go share a vanilla malt with one straw."

Not to say that a community needs acrimony to be hype, but it does need a little stank on it. SF's community is a million times more interesting. That could be due to life changing money being on the line.

What does MK offer in terms of value?

Game Quality- Nay
Community- What community?
Personalities- Other than Lord Brady, who is entertaining? It's a Zzz factory. Sorry a chair breaking a light isn't hype.

I barely cracked a 100 hours my ownself on this crap show.

I put thousands of hours into MK9
MKX 900
MK11 300-400 I forget

@Eddy Wang and I'm only speaking to you my brutha. I know you love this franchise to death, but these scoundrels legitimately fatalied your passion for the franchise with this half ass abortion of a video game. I'd bet the farm that your once vibrant African MK Community is non-existent thanks to NRS. They couldn't even support your region. Don't worry, it's coming soon.

less than 5 people play this game here, everyone else switched genre, its either on tekken or SF6

When i switched back in 2017 my channel went from 500 to 10k subs today, all from Tekken, SF and any other non MK game, which is sad, the amount of earning Tekken gives to a small content creator like me it's far bigger than anything NRS and MK has ever done to my channel, in fact they destroyed one of my best videos with copyright strike and youtube deleted it without warning, all tech and demo from that video is now gone and can't be replicated. All because i choose to use UMK3 arcade music and such, they really deleted my video

Africa it's dead to NRS despite some of it still love the game, but imagine loving a game that you paid for and you can't even play unless it's locally!

This was the last time i've pre-ordered anything NRS, that's if i will ever purchase anything NRS puts in, the entire community already set their mind to not purchase the next game either, since we got scammed $110 and we can't even play, it's been a fucking year ever since and nothing changed. We are not priority, if at least they could have the balls to refund the entire african continent we wouldn't be this annoyed, but hey, we've learned a valuable lesson here from a consumer standpoint.