Death, taxes, and technical difficulties: Evo Japan should not be an Evo event

On Might 1st, 2026, Victor “Punk” Woodley put out a tweet saying that Evo Japan has been a foul expertise each single 12 months for him, that it is likely to be his closing time going to the event attributable to his expertise.

Sadly, this isn’t an remoted drawback, as a bunch of high gamers from throughout combating video games have shared his sentiment.

From Christopher “NYChrisG” Gonzalez to William “Leffen” Hjelte, all of them share the opinion that the event merely did a bunch of issues unsuitable for the gamers, which additionally impacts the viewing expertise of these watching it at house.

Evo has been the crowning glory of the FGC for years now, and it comes with the expectation that the occasion would run easily and that each viewer at house would have a enjoyable time. Lately, nevertheless, the event has undergone expansion, pushed by the Saudi government-owned RTS’s buy of the event.

What was as soon as held solely in Las Vegas has now grow to be a worldwide circuit, making it out there to lots of, if not hundreds, of individuals within the FGC.  Whereas it has been criticized by a number of the high gamers within the FGC, resembling Tekken participant Arslan “Arslan Ash” Sidiqque, there’s little question that the event’s world growth has make clear some native legends that don’t have the financial assist to journey to Las Vegas.

With that being stated, every of the brand new tournaments nonetheless has “Evo” in its title, and that carries the identical expectation: A clean event and a clean viewing expertise. Evo Japan didn’t ship in any of these.

It ought to’ve been obvious that the event could be a nightmare when the occasion the day earlier than it started had technical difficulties. The occasion was Evo Legends Reside, that includes the primary occasion: Daigo vs MenaRD, a first-to-10 match between two Avenue Fighter legends.

Now, earlier than the primary occasion, there are a few undercard matches. Guess what? The primary one took over an hour simply to start out. The second? Just about the identical case. This type of ready time is wild, contemplating every match wouldn’t even take that a lot time. Mainly, the entire streaming time was doubled due to it.

With that stated, it’s protected to imagine that the workers has realized from their errors and carry the momentum of having the ability to salvage a reasonably main FGC occasion and maintain the very best event this 12 months has but to supply, proper?

Effectively… not likely.

The very subsequent day, high gamers from throughout quite a lot of video games voiced their disappointment concerning the event. Punk mentioned that the event’s consoles overheated, inflicting him to lose video games as a result of his character would stroll again and do nothing.

Gamers like Benjamin “Drawback X” Simon, however, have complaints concerning the TO’s resolution to not enable gamers to heat up earlier than their matches.

Maybe probably the most scalding criticism of all comes from combating recreation veteran NYChrisG, who wrote a wall of textual content highlighting his expertise in the midst of the event. To provide you a rundown, he opens his rant by saying that he’s heard that each Evo Japan was a “rubbish event,” however “I needed to see it for myself.”

“Immediately, I had points,” stated NYChrisG within the rant and highlighted the truth that “Dqs [sic] and stuff had been so late, I used to be capable of present up nearly an hour later.”

And since issues had been so late, his video games have overlapped.

He continued: “The way in which the Japanese folks run the event, it appears every little thing must be completed so professionally and exactly, that even a easy factor has to undergo three chains of command. No person right here makes their very own resolution (even when it’s tremendous tiny). So you’ll be able to inform, issues took lengthy, and typically can get slightly annoying.

“I simply wanna play the sport and be on my method. I don’t care about the rest.”

He then went on to ramble about how the 2XKO event “was oooof generally,” admitting that he’s by no means seen a 2XKO event that ran properly. That is additionally backed up by Leffen with a tweet, saying that his Winner’s Semifinal match with Supernoon within the Prime 8 of 2XKO had big lag spikes for some motive.

The downtime was lower from the video Evo uploaded to YouTube, however it’s fairly apparent as a result of there’s a transition earlier than slicing to the casters.

Lastly, NYChrisG ended his rant saying that: “Total, I believe if this event wasn’t in Japan, it is likely to be protected to say this occasion could be a wash. Sucks trigger there’s loads of good folks concerned. Too unhealthy, realistically it doesn’t/didn’t matter.”

That is fairly big coming from a two-time EVO champion.

It’s not simply those that flew over who had been having hassle. Cosa, a Avenue Fighter 6 participant from Japan who completed ninth on this occasion, additionally talked about that the PlayStation 5 settings for Avenue Fighter 6 weren’t right.

One other a part of Evo Japan that had an issue was Betty’s OG Hunt, by which a feminine Japanese Avenue Fighter 6 content material creator, Betty, performs in opposition to the sport’s legends. She has been persistently taking down legacy Japanese gamers, together with legendary caster Ryutaro “Aru” Noda, who was additionally a robust combating recreation participant earlier than switching to casting.

Final 12 months, at Evo Vegas, she expanded her content material to attempt to take down these from abroad, with Justin Wong as her first goal. That didn’t go properly for her as Justin took her down, being the one opponent who survived her “hunt.” This 12 months at Evo Japan, she had her sights on Ryan Hart, an actual legend of the combating recreation group, and efficiently took him down.

However since this was Evo Japan, the feed had errors, so the cameraman tried to broadcast the match by pointing the digital camera at one of many displays on stage. One commenter stated, “That is so OG, they’re throwing it again to filming a TV display.”

Whereas the remark is hilarious, this type of technical problem shouldn’t be anyplace close to a premier occasion within the FGC. Her vital second was destroyed.

What’s even worse is that this isn’t the primary time Evo Japan has had technical issues. Evo Japan 2025 additionally had a few of them all through the highest eight of Responsible Gear -STRIVE-. This lasted till the Grand Finals, which is simply unacceptable for an occasion this vital for the FGC.

The truth that this has been occurring for years needs to be a trigger for concern for the Evo Japan workers. These ought to’ve been ironed out days earlier than the precise event, and every little thing ought to’ve been examined and checked to be sure that each single competitor within the venue can have a good time.

However time and time once more, Evo Japan continues to disappoint.

So, what’s the repair? To be fairly sincere, I’m not so positive. Final 12 months, neither Evo Vegas nor Evo France had any main technical problem. If there was, it’s so minuscule that just about no person has talked about it. Nonetheless, each time it involves Evo Japan, there’s at all times an issue with the console and the administration.

Personally, I might look to Intel Excessive Masters for Counter-Strike 2 for inspiration. Each time I sit down and watch an IEM event, I do know I’m in for a great time and that every little thing might be as seamless as doable. I’m not saying that combating recreation tournaments ought to copy every little thing IEM is doing; I’m saying the Evo Japan workers might study from the IEM workers.

With the RTS buy, I believe Evo ought to have some additional funds to ship the Evo Japan workers abroad for coaching by professionals to make sure nothing like this occurs once more.

As a result of in my eyes, Evo Japan 2026 was a humiliation, and it doesn’t deserve the Evo suffix in any respect.