Evo 2020 has been canceled, replaced with an online event that certainly won’t be considered official

Nerf corona already

Another domino has inevitably fallen. Evo 2020, the biggest fighting game showcase of the year, has been canceled. Originally scheduled to begin on July 31 in Las Vegas, tournament organizers have pulled the plug because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A message from the Evo team… pic.twitter.com/ANXUXDiNGK

— EVO (@EVO) May 1, 2020

This announcement comes three months before Evo was set to take place, which seems to be the exact timeline all conventions/events are working on. In mid-March, Evo’s organizers still tentatively planned to hold the tournament, saying they were “actively monitoring” the situation. As it becomes increasingly clear things won’t be magically better in three months and that it’s an ill-fated idea to host a giant public gathering, events are canceling one by one.

However, this isn’t the end of the road for Evo 2020. There’s going to be some sort of online tournament held this summer “to keep the spirit alive.” This will almost certainly be viewed as more of an exhibition than anything else. Champions are crowned at LANs because fighting games are notorious for shaky netcode and lag during online play. If this online spin on Evo is an official tournament, the winners will end up with an asterisk next to their title.