So in the second week of last December, it was revealed which games would be a part of the main lineup at EVO Japan and EVO
(Vegas) EVO has a few franchises now throughout the year. Now including France (and upcoming Singapore). Whenever I just say "EVO" just assume I mean Vegas.
The usual suspects are all here. Current Street Fighter, current Tekken, and current Guilty Gear are all there. GranblueVS and Mohammed bin Salmam's Fatal Fury are all here too. We're also seeing the return of Virtua Fighter 5 and new games like Invincible VS and Rivals of Aether II. I have my own questions about the game lineup, but I stopped questioning the Main Stage Lineup forever ago.
One title that stirred up alot of conversation in my digital neck of the woods was Vampire Savior AKA VSAV
AKA Darkstalkers 3
. Now VSAV is the oldest game on the lineup sporting a release date of May 1997. This 28-year old game is on the main stage this year because of EVO's retro game slot.
Starting in 2024, EVO started putting retro games in their main stage lineup. This (in my opinion) is a ploy to retain the old EVO viewership that has no interest in modern games and wants to use nostalgia to bolster viewership and sign-up numbers. All that aside, VSAV is the next retro title at EVO (and EVO Japan) So much of the community is coming out of retirement and spending time in the lab to show their stuff in Vegas this June.
As a member of the community, this presents a small moral quandry for me due to the acquisition of EVO's parent comopany by Saudi Arabia. I'm not going to go too deep into the weeds because I sorta talked about this when I wrote a blog post about Fatal Fury in an older blog post. However, here's the cliff's notes: Saudi Arabia is a majorly oppressive state that has committed multiple human's right abuses, used slavery to build their infrastructure and killed an American journalist. They've expanded into multiple other markets like golfing and esports using their public investment fund to make more money, but many folks are taking a stand to divest from companies with Saudi investment to protest the Saudi state.
Now EVO is another one of those properties that I think we SHOULD boycott to oppose the Saudi government and its multiple crimes and abuses, but it's a little complicated. At least for me. And maybe it's a litte complex for some other folks out there too, so I wanna talk it out a bit.
I'll say I understand this is a huge opportunity for the VSAV community to show off on the big stage. As the quote at the top says VSAV deserves EVO. the community deserves this, but does that mean we should take it? I wanted to delude myself and say "well is EVO even that popular still? and I instantly answered myself with a "YES!" I may have lost my infatuation with EVO almost a decade ago, but it's still the biggest game in town for FGC esports. It's still probably the only FGC major normies can refer to by name.
However, that doesn't mean that all the eyeballs and new players we get from EVO will translate to consistent engagement with the community. I think we'll enjoy a few good players and fans of the game from this, but I think that kind of lifelong love for the game can be built through other channels. I think this oppprtunity at EVO is something we can afford to pass up as a community. I agree that it's huge, but we as a community have other options.
Something I love about the North American VSAV community is how independent it is. While everyone is begging Capcom to make a new game, we've been sitting here with our nearly 30 year old game still learning and having fun. VSAV was one of the first times we had a company promise to deliver a new sequel if we bought a remaster of the old game. Capcom released Darkstalkers Resurrection on PS3 and X360 in 2013, and it basically breathed new life into the VSAV community stateside, but Capcom never delivered on a new sequel. Capcom also didn't reveal Resurrection's sales numbers, so we could only take their word for it. Despite all this, the community kept going on. The players kept mashing out their PBs for years and years afterwards. Talk of a sequel feels like a social faux paus in the discord because we're so focused on what we have that a potential new game doesn't interest at all.
It's also the recognition that Capcom isn't the same company they were when they made VSAV, and major fighting games aren't the same either, so a new Darkstalkers game probably wouldn't be good in many of our eyes.
I get how this is an important chance, but I think we'll end up a net positive if we can manage to abstain from EVO this year.
Another question I'm asking myself during this is "Who is responsible for standing against EVO and its major owners?" Is is the longtime players from the American Community? Is it the viewers of EVO? Is it Vampire Arcadia?
FGC group based in Ohio. They essentially are the spine of the American VSAV community in all aspects you could think of. They also stream and support other retor games like ST and 3rd Strike (yuck).
Is it a Jackass named Trashboat that mostly plays on figthcade and only has about 5 years of experience under his belt?
I think I do have a right to have this conversation, but I also understand there are many in the community that have been around thrice as long as I have, so i also want to give them their due respect. Honestly, It's not an easy question and it doesn't have any easy answers. I think the only thing I can be certain of is the onus doesn't merely lie with one person. It will take a huge collaborative effort to make meaningful change. That goes for just about everything.
I wanna talk about complicity and how the world makes us complicit in many ways we don't always instantly recognize. During the tail-end of the 2024 election, many of my lefty friends were trying to convince people to vote for the democratic ticket despite the atrocities that continue in Gaza to this day. Many folks stated they didn't want to be complicit in the genocide, but "Alyaza made a very poignant point that you're already complicit in the genocide if you pay taxes in the US. Abastaining from voting is one way to demostrate your opposition to the ongoing genocide, but unless you're willing to commit tax evasion, you're still complicit.
As of the morning I started writing this, President Trump kidnapped President Maduro and his wife from Venezuela in a covert military operation. As a tax-paying American, I'm also complicit in this war crime. The pentagon budget was funded by the tax dollars of millions of Americans. Many of us are complicit in evil that goes against our values everyday.
I don't bring this up to imply any small resistance to this kind of evil is useless, but to demostrate the power often makes many of us complicit by becoming indespensible parts of our everyday lives. It's an unfortunate truth, but hope still exists. We can still fight back. We can still take a stand. We can still work to build a better future for everyone.
I know that in addition to the players, I have many friends/acquantances working in the esports industry that may be not be 100% in agreement with EVO ownership, and I don't wanna malign them. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's very productive to shame folks for their parts in this. I think for now it's best to figure out where I stand and try to be true to that position. Maybe I can also look for like-minds in the FGC that can offer a shoulder during this tough time.
To that end, I won't be watching or participating in the EVO streams for EVO Japan in May or EVO in June. I won't think any less of anyone that takes a different position. Ultimately, the best way forward is looking on the bright side and making positive steps towards a better future. Judging others instead of working together does more harm than good. I think there's better opportunities to make a change regardless. Whereever you end up in regards to this issue, I hope you have a good time and find more opportunities to make the world a better place.
