Evo 2025 won’t be breaking any records set by its previous events, but it will still see 8,541 players turning out to compete across its main and extended tournament lineup. This includes another top placement for Street Fighter 6 and Rivals of Aether 2 nearly overtaking Mortal Kombat 1 in total entries.
According to Evo, there are 13,892 unique bracket entries across the main and extended fighting game lineups this year. In total, there are 8,541 players who entered to compete in at least one title, with many signing up to fight in multiple games from Aug. 1 to 3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Evo 2025 Main Lineup Final Player Numbers / Image via Evo
Game
Player Total
Street Fighter 6
4,228
Tekken 8
2,521
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
1,576
Guilty Gear Strive
1,508
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
938
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
570
Under Night In-Birth II Sys: Celes
547
Mortal Kombat 1
377
Overall, this is a decrease in player totals compared to Evo 2024, when the tournament series set a record for most individual entrants for an esports event at over 10,000 unique entrants, though nothing that likely wasn’t expected, as most games on the roster are another year older. Comparing the two years, every major title lost a significant portion of its entry numbers, with the only exception being Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, which is debuting this year in place of King of Fighters XV.
Tekken 8 saw the largest decrease, dropping from 4,646 players in its first year at Evo to 2,521 at Evo 2025. SF6 remains at the top and is the only game to even crack 3,000 players this year, although it has lost over 1,000 total entrants year-over-year for its third appearance at the tournament series.
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By comparison, Guilty Gear Strive is holding strong despite dipping into fourth place on the lineup, just barely losing out to CotW. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising will also have another solid showing at 938 players.
Even with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 only sitting in sixth place as this year’s Evo Throwback title, 570 players still make it the largest MvC2 bracket of all time.
One important thing to note about Evo 2025 is a slight decline in international talent making the trip over to compete.
At Evo 2024, more than 10 percent of competitors came from outside the United States. That number has decreased for Evo 2025, where 90 percent of all attendees are from the US. This decrease in international entrants could be caused by a number of factors, including the current state of the US among international travelers, the price of travel or Evo adding another global event, potentially disincentivizing players from making the trip.
Evo 2025 Extended Lineup Final Player Numbers / Image via Evo
Game
Player Total
Rivals of Aether 2
358
Blazblue Centralfiction
247
Capcom vs. SNK 2
236
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.
212
King of Fighters XV
169
Samurai Shodown
155
Guilty Gear XRD REV 2
134
Killer Instinct
118
The Evo Extended Lineup is a new undertaking for Evo 2025, and will crown an additional eight Evo Champions, even though the games won’t have their finals played out in the arena throughout the weekend.
Rivals seeing this kind of support on the Extended Lineup is also a big deal for the future of Evo’s relationship with platform fighters.
With the absence of Super Smash Bros. in any form of the Evo lineup since Ultimate’s first and only appearance at Evo 2019, platform fighters have really only appeared in the bring your own controller tournaments or at developer booths at the event. The one exception was MultiVersus running its own major side event at Evo in 2022, though that game has since been shut down by Warner Bros. Discovery.
Rivals getting near-main game entry numbers shows there is interest from the game’s community that could increase over time. It can also serve as an example for other upcoming platform fighters that might want to appear at Evo, though it will have to be a fairly big release to make it into the main event lineup.
The numbers for the Extended Lineup don’t seem too shocking on the surface, but Rivals of Aether 2 very nearly surpassed Mortal Kombat 1 in total entrants. MK1 has seen another dip in overall entrants, slashing its 645 total from Evo 2024 to just 377 this year, with Rivals 2 hitting 358.
And, while it isn’t an official side event, Arc System Works is also hosting a featured tournament for Hunter × Hunter: Nen×Impact at its booth. Sign ups for that will be live until July 30, and the winner will receive a free trip to Evo France in October.
HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT is coming to @Evo! 🔥
A feature tournament will be hosted at the Arc System Works Booth on the show floor for any and all!✨️
The winner of this tournament will receive a free trip to EVO France!
Entry to this feature tournament is completely free and… pic.twitter.com/4dv81SlVBj
— Arc System Works America ➡️ EVO 2025 (@ArcSystemWorksU) July 17, 2025