EVO, or Evolution Championship Series, is one of the biggest events in the fighting game competitive scene. The event is fast approaching, and with it comes the promise of announcements from the developers of all the major games on the event circuit. Fans of Street Fighter have been eagerly awaiting any kind of announcement on the future of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, since the last major content patch was the introduction of Season 4 and one character, Kage, back in December of 2018.
Street Fighter V Producer Yoshinori Ono requested that everyone following the game sit tight, as Capcom was saving up their big news for EVO 2019. Many speculated that the time between updates could mean that Capcom is working on the next installment of Street Fighter for next-generation hardware, specifically the PlayStation 5, which is likely but not guaranteed to hit retail markets by the 2020 holiday season. Capcom partnered with Sony to create Street Fighter V as a flagship fighting game title with an eSports presence, and the game remains a PlayStation 4 console exclusive.
On Twitter, Ono confirmed that Capcom is not working on Street Fighter VI, and that a new Street Fighter game is not going to be announced at EVO. According to the tweet, the team at Capcom remains dedicated to working on Street Fighter V and is planning an announcement specific to this iteration of the game.
Adding to the rumor that a Street Fighter VI announcement was plausible was the recent announcement that Sony’s PlayStation is now partnered with EVO, and will also be making an announcement of some kind during the event. PlayStation consoles are used for the vast majority of fighting game tournaments, and is the hardware of every main game’s event with the obvious exception of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is not the final game at EVO this year, marking a bit of a change for the event. The decision was made to change the final game to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in large part due to the massive amount of entrants. With Melee no longer being part of EVO, Smash players are corralled towards playing the latest installment of their game. This year’s entry numbers were record-breaking, with astounding registration numbers for all the events.
Street Fighter V did attract more entrants than Tekken 7, but Tekken will be the second to last game on Sunday. At EVO 2018, Dragon Ball FighterZ beat out Street Fighter V for most entrants, but at this year’s EVO the game joins newly released games Samurai Shodown and Mortal Kombat 11 on Saturday.
With Street Fighter V not closing this year’s EVO, it’s not likely that Capcom would want to make such a major announcement without the top time slot. It’s more likely that Capcom would choose to announce a new game–if there is a new game–at their own Capcom Cup Pro Tour event in December.
EVO 2019 will feature nine main game events, including an event for Under Night In Birth:Late[st], and is a major stop on the Capcom Pro Tour and the Tekken World Tour. EVO 2019 takes place from August 2nd to August 4th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada.