Earlier this year, we witnessed the conclusion of Evo 2024, the largest open-ended video gaming tournament. . Or, you could say it says the opposite! Not a permanent farewell, but more of a holiday abroad, as the Evo International event between France and Singapore was announced live during Sunday’s final.
I wanted to know more about this planned adventure outside of the United States and Japan, how those countries were chosen, and how that would change events for better or worse. I sat down with Rick “The Hadou” Thiher to discuss the news and what it means for the Evo brand.
Manage cookie settings
VG247: How long has Evo International been in preparation?
Thiher: We started discussing international expansion around Evo Japan 2023, and at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.
VG247: How long did it take you to come to the conclusion that this was the right thing to do?
Thiher: One of the most common pieces of feedback we’ve received over the years is how difficult it is to attend existing Evo events, and how difficult it is to attend events outside of your area. While we hope to continue hosting destination events, they need to be easily accessible to maintain Evo’s philosophy of being open to the global community.
VG247: You pointed out during Evo that this teaser was released a little too early, it was announced at Evo 2023, and then a while later you popped up on camera and said you were a little too enthusiastic. So what’s the story here? Are there any bumps in the road?
Thiher: There’s no real delay or [hit] bumpy. Honestly, I was on stage and in that moment of excitement about the stage and getting over my stage fright, I went for a crowd pop. So, I joked that we were going to a new place, knowing it was going to be popular, and then had to step back and think about why we weren’t exactly on track to prepare to announce the location, the way we wanted to. We are working on a multi-year roadmap and we can announce dates and locations at Marvel Moments in Hall H. Instead, I posted a teaser that turned into an announcement of an announcement until we finally got here to execute it the way it should be executed. I think that moment was worth the wait and a great reminder that working for a really big brand means a lot to a lot of people, not just me on stage with a microphone.
VG247: How did you end up in France and Singapore? Apparently, these countries have a long history in fighting games – especially France!
Thiher: So in France we want to continue the successful relationship with the United States and Japan and create a tourist destination and a well-established regional FGC. Something will come together with us to create an expanded, new rally-sized event. Thanks to the efforts of UFA, The Mix Up, XSB, Red Bull Kumite and all the other events in France and across Europe, we know there is a mature community to build. Adding that, working with important local partners such as Webedia, we are confident that France can deliver the experience that Evo is known for. Add in the Evo champions, the production team, the ambassadors, the publishers, Damascus and everyone who calls France home, and it feels like being in the right place at the right time.
For Singapore, a different approach is taken. We hope the Evo opens up to its expectations. We still want to work on destination events, but we want to start putting together things at different scales that are slightly different experiences that creatively prioritize focusing on and growing FGC from an awareness standpoint. When we look at the map, you can see that Capcom hosted its recent Super Premiere event in Singapore, and you get the pre-pandemic SEAM Legacy (a popular event that sadly closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Singapore has an exciting tourism board. There are also former Evo champions there such as Xian who now runs the Versus Vortex channel with Mike Ross, both of whom are focused on Singapore. So if Evo can join these efforts, perhaps we can establish a new international hotspot for FGC, thereby expanding its history and Evo’s position in the market. This is important to me because Evo is trying to achieve the ambitions of some world warriors.
VG247: From what you’re saying, it’s really a collaborative effort for both countries. Will these events be run primarily by roaming Evo teams, or will there be heavy reliance on local teams and infrastructure?
Thiher: Local execution partners (such as Evo France’s Webedia) and local FGCs are integral to the execution of Evo activities. The Evo team isn’t big enough to run all of these shows globally on its own. I definitely don’t speak all the languages needed to do this effectively (laughs)!
VG247: There has been some discussion about whether expanding the Evo Championship would detract from Evo Vegas’ status as the top global event. What are your thoughts on this? Are these concerns justified?
Thiher: Attention is always good, but I think Evo Japan has proven to enhance Evo’s reputation in Las Vegas. When I look at sports and sports entertainment events that are supported by ecosystems, I see similarities between Evo Las Vegas and Wimbledon or WrestleMania. I don’t think tennis having a series of prestigious events has devalued its most historic events! On the contrary, I think it has created a variety of exciting individual and collective achievements that actually support Wimbledon’s prestige. When it comes to sports entertainment – especially as a wrestling fan – Summer Slam and Royal Rumble don’t get in the way of my enthusiasm for WrestleMania.
This is the road to WrestleMania. So I’m excited to bring this to Evo because seeing someone like Arslan Ash win multiple Evo events in one year is a dramatic achievement that everyone is excited about. With only Las Vegas and Tokyo on the map, this is already very difficult. So we’re going to another location in 2025 and a step further in 2026… I’m really excited to see if any of the players are able to pull this off, and I think there will be a lot of excitement around them for the scale of this achievement. Have an incredible celebration.
VG247: You have expressed the advantages of choosing France and Singapore. Which countries may we see in the future that didn’t qualify this time?
Thiher: I think there’s a lot of excitement in the world, and there’s an amazing amount of super active fighting game communities around the world. I hope Evo will allow us to visit all of these people at the same time. I don’t have the bandwidth and resources to do this – I’m a bit worried about my bandwidth trying to handle four of them at the same time! Yes, there are some places that didn’t make the cut, but the cool thing about Evo having World Warrior ambitions is that they might show up in the future.
