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Evo 2022: What was announced at the Las Vegas event?

by Simon Jones
August 16, 2022

The Evolution Championship Series returned to Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas last weekend after a two year absence, with players from around the world competing in fighting games from Street Fighter to Mortal Kombat.

Alongside the tournaments, a number of game developers and distributors announced new releases and other news about their titles to an audience of thousands of fighting-game fans from around the globe. With Evo in town, Las Vegas is not just the spiritual home of those looking to play at an casino online, but also those who want to duke it out in a virtual ring. Here are a few of the biggest announcements from the event.

New Street Fighter 6 characters

On stage at the event, Capcom announced two new fighters for Street Fighter 6, named as Kimberly and Juri. The Japanese game developers described Juri as a £sadistic thrill-seeker” and Kimberly as a “spunky new ninja” and “devoted student to Bushinryu”, with both characters ready for the release of Street Fighter 6 next year.

SNK announces development of new Fatal Fury/Garou game

SNK announced an update to the Fatal Fury/Garou series is in development, which would be the first new release since 1999’s Gagou: Mark of the Wolves. The Japanese videogame firm did not give any information about the game’s title, referring to it only as “New Fatal Fury/Garou”, and gave no indication on the platforms the game will be released on, but it did show off some artwork and a short teaser trailer that features Rock Howard, the protagonist from the 1999 game.

Tekken 8 was (maybe) announced

Tekken is one of the biggest titles in fighting games, and so news that Tekken 8 was moving towards release would be make significant waves in the industry. However, the way Bandai Namco announced the news has created more questions than answers. On stage at Evo 2022, the company showed off a two second teaser for Tekken 8 featuring photorealistic graphics and Kazuya smiling at the camera with the words “get ready” appearing on the screen.

When the action cut back to action on stage, the three hosts were jumping around frantically and then the appearance of Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada silently running on stage, hyping the crowd, and then leaving again without saying a single word was perhaps the most bizarre moment of the whole event.

The teaser has some fans believing the next Tekken game will be a full reboot of the whole series, whilst others expect a more iterative new release. But not only has Bandai Nameco not confirmed any information about Tekken 8, they have not even confirmed whether there will be a new game at all.

Guilty Gear: Strive get new character

Arc System Works announced that Bridget, the yo-yo super-slayer would make an appearance in the upcoming Guilty Gear: Strive in her first playable appearance since Guilty Gear XX Core Plus R. Bridget is the first downloadable content (DLC) character to be announced for the title and was released today alongside a new character colour pack as part of the title’s second season pass. Another character is expected to be released later this year and two more will be released in 2023.

Fourth DLC team for The King of Fighters XV unveiled

Alongside its Fatal Fury announcement, SNK also revealed Team Samurai, the fourth DLC team coming to The King of Fighters XV. The team includes Haohmaru, Nakoruru, and Darli Dagger from Samurai Shodown, with each character bringing their own unique abilities to the franchise later this autumn.

Beyond Team Samurai, two further characters were teased from another team, with Shingo Yabuki, who debuted in The King of Fighters ’97, and Kim Kaphwan, who was introduced in Fatal Fury 2, confirmed as the first two characters to be included in the second season pass, which is set for release in 2023.

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