EVO made its’ debut in the south of France in Nice from October 10th to October 12th, with over 3500 entrants across 19 different tournaments for 16 different fighting game titles. The main titles for EVO France included Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT.
Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 had the highest single entrants for an event at EVO France with 1654 entrants, battling it out for a prize pool of €23,000. The winner of the event would be Korean player Lesher of DRX over 2GameEsports’ Blaz from Chile. The highest placing UK player would be EndingWalker of MOUZ, placing in at 13th after losing to Dual Kevin and Kawano.
Tekken 8
With 1156 entrants, Tekken 8 had the second highest entrant count for EVO France tournaments – with €18,481 on the line. Arslan Ash of Twisted Minds would prove victorious, defeating Team Vitality’s JeonDDing in Grand Finals whilst resetting the bracket. The two had last played at the Esports World Cup 2025, where JeonDDing was the victor in that matchup. Arslan Ash won 15 sets in total – 9 in a row after being knocked down to Loser’s side of the bracket by UK player Kaneandtrench who finished the tournament in 5th place, whilst Irish player Fergus representing Mirage Esports finished in 3rd.
Other UK players included Mirage Esports Goasain and Team Falcons JoKa, who both finished in 13th place.
Guilty Gear -STRIVE-
Guilty Gear had 572 entrants at EVO France, with a prize pool of €16,501 and a spot at the ARC World Tour Finals on the line. The tournament would be won by British player Tiger_Pop representing ONi Global over PataChu of VICE.
With this victory, Tiger_Pop qualified for the ARC World Tour Finals, with a date and location still to be set.
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
Granblue Fantasy Versus had an entrant count of 438 participants €15,000, and also a spot in the ARC World Tour Finals. The tournament was won by Freesias of Eden’s Usagi over Italian player Pixi. The highest placing UK players included Scottish player releasebogus and English player IxisNaugus both finishing in 17th.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves had an entrant count of 389 participants with a prize pool of €13,000. The bracket was won by Xiaohai of KuaiShou Gaming, defeating Kindevu of Team Falcons.
The highest placing player from the UK would be MysticSmash, who ended up in 17th place.
Dragon Ball FighterZ
Dragon Ball FighterZ had 224 entrants with a €7,000 prize pool. This tournament was won by BMS Esports Hikari, defeating Spanish player Gropis. OBAssassin would be the highest placing UK player, who ended up finishing in 4th
HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT
The last Main Tournament of EVO France, HUNTERxHUNTER, had an entrant count of 135 and a prize pool of €7,000. The bracket was won by Japanese player Shinanochan over ROW1, also from Japan. The highest placing UK player was shared between 3 participants: FullMetalFury, Jonesy and SEND_JINX_LEWDS all in 9th-12th place along side American player Lariat GOD.
Controversy around EVO’s new ownership
Just a month before EVO France was set to take place, it was announced that Qiddya – an investment company part of the Public Invest Fund project by Saudi Arabia – would gain partial control of EVO after acquiring RTS, the company behind the EVO brand, with Indian company NODWIN acquiring the stake that Sony sold back in August.
There was already debate around the support of fighting games as part of the Esports World Cup, with Saudi Arabia being accused of sportswashing by way of improving their reputation by promoting and running a multiple weeks long event covering multiple titles with life changing sums of money on the line for players and huge paydays for esports teams competing in the event.
Many have made their displeasure known through multiple social media posts, both on the initial announcement and through their own channels, with a lot of disappointment towards the new ownership, stating they would avoid attending any EVO in the future.
Qiddya and the PIF being involved even more with the Fighting Game Community has many worried for the future of the genre, with many games having characters represented under the LBGT+ banner. The FGC has a long history of being very inclusive, with some of the best players in world, such as SonicFox identifying as non-binary.
Whilst the first EVO France was a resounding success, the future of FGC and the event itself may be up in the air with potential changes to the historical event. The full announcement for EVO events in 2026 is expected to take place on the 9th December.
FGNUK 
Leave a comment