Street Fighter 6 seems to be continuing its trend of being the biggest fighting game around, and that’s especially true in Japan.
Evo Japan 2026 opened up its registration to the public a month ago, and the disparity between entrant numbers is honestly a bit staggering.
Longtime FGC member Incross just put together an early breakdown of entrant numbers across all 12 main fighting games featured at Evo Japan after one month.
It’s no real shock to see that Street Fighter 6 is on top since the Capcom title has held that position at all Evo events since launching in 2023, but how far ahead it is than everything else is still surprising to see.
According to the Start.gg data, there are currently 3,014 attendees signed up for Evo Japan thus far this year, and 2,506 of them are in it for at least Street Fighter (though people can obviously sign up for multiple games).
That’s over 83% of early entrants if you were wondering.
No other game is even above 200 right now.
Guilty Gear Strive is number two at 190, Vampire Savior is third at 132, Tekken 8 is actually fourth at 130 and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising sits in sixth at 118.
2XKO, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Hokuto no Ken, Melty Blood: Type Lumina and The King of Fighters 15 range from 52 to 106 entrants each.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage and Under Night In-Birth 2 are at the bottom with only 39 and 32 entrants each right now.
1. Street Fighter 6 – 2,506
2. Guilty Gear Strive – 190
3. Vampire Savior – 132
4. Tekken 8 – 130
5. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising – 118
6. 2XKO – 106
7. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves – 106
8. Hokuto no Ken – 56
9. Melty Blood: Type Lumina – 54
10. The King of Fighters 15 – 52
11. Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage – 39
12. Under Night In-Birth 2 – 32
If you combine all 11 other fighting games together, Street Fighter 6’s entrants are more than double their total.
These numbers are obviously going to change significantly with there still being at least four months left to sign up for the big event, but it’s crystal clear where the most interest is.
Compared to last year, Evo Japan 2025 brought in 6,536 entrants for Street Fighter 6 as the second-largest Evo bracket ever, and they could break that this time around even if there is a cap of 7,168 players.
EVO Japan 2026 close to a month after registration opened (around 3000 signups):
SF6 2506
GGST 190
VSAV 132
TEKKEN 8 130
GBVSR 118
2XKO 106
CotW 106
HnK 56
MBTL 54
KoFXV 52
VF5 39
UNI2 32
— incross (@crossknockout) January 6, 2026
Street Fighter 6 still beat out more than every other game combined then too with Tekken 8 being the next closest at 960, but there’s also five more games available than last year too.
It certainly appears that Capcom has shifted a lot of their focus for Street Fighter on Japan specifically because of the game’s popularity in its home country.
They’re going to hold Capcom Cup 12 in Tokyo for the second year in a row while making the finals a pay-per-view event, which ruffled the feathers of the western fanbase, but is a more common practice in Japan.
We’ve also been seeing more things catered to the Japanese audience too between the V-Tuber commentator that was recently added to Street Fighter 6 as well as the big McDonald’s Street Fighter promotion that offered food and in-game costume colors only for Japan.
In the past, we interviewed Reject|Tokido about Street Fighter 6 where he noted the game’s popularity is at “a level that was unthinkable before,” and it seems to have continued to grow since then.
The game appears to be the biggest the series has been in Japan since the Street Fighter 2 days.
SF6 has totally consumed the FGC. I’m happy a fighting game is mainstream again, but the number difference with other FGs is honestly depressing.
If you’re a beginner, please try other fighting games too! Besides Street Fighter! https://t.co/i8xtjhWAch pic.twitter.com/cqZWY5HldL
— Fighting-Games Daily (@FGC_Daily) January 6, 2026
You’d hope that would be good for fighting games as a whole there, but a wider trickle down effect does not seem to be taking place right now.
Street Fighter 6 is showing no signs of slowing down in Japan, so we’re going to have to see what that means for the rest of the world moving forward in 2026 and beyond.
The Director and Producer of Street Fighter 6 did recently offer New Year’s messages to talk a bit about what they’re planning for the game and the series approaching its 40th anniversary in 2027.
Evo Japan 2026 is scheduled to take place from May 1–3 in Tokyo.