Evo Japan sets record with biggest Street Fighter tournament ever

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Evo Japan has set a new record for the biggest Street Fighter tournament ever, attracting more than 7,000 competitors.

Evo Japan, a spin-off of the popular fighting game tournament held in Las Vegas, is happening this weekend in Tokyo. It’s expected to have more than 10,000 players competing in several different games.

Street Fighter 6 was the clear standout game this weekend, significantly more popular than anything else. It’s actually setting new records as the biggest Street Fighter tournament in history.

Street Fighter 6 dwarfs every other game at Evo Japan

Evo Japan’s final player counts are in, and a remarkable 7,685 people have registered to compete in Street Fighter 6, the newest game in the popular Capcom fighting series.

What’s really surprising is how much higher the registration numbers are for this title compared to others. For example, Tekken 8 only had 882 participants, and Guilty Gear Strive had around 740.

Fighting games are becoming incredibly popular in Japan, and Evo is marking this growth with its largest Evo Japan event to date, according to Rick Thiher, Evo’s General Manager.

I can’t think of a better way to start Evo’s 2026 tournament season than by expanding the event at Tokyo Big Sight, bringing together the competition, unique culture, and strong community that make fighting games so exciting.

The huge difference in player numbers is unusual for a tournament with multiple fighting games, and it highlights just how popular Street Fighter 6 has become in Japan since it was released in 2023.

This game has seriously blown up here over the last three years. I remember back in September 2023, people were watching it for over 800 million hours that month! And as of February 2026, it’s become one of my go-to streams – it’s the third most-watched game on Twitch in the country, with over 6 million hours being watched. It’s crazy popular!

Whether Evo Japan will reveal a new character is unknown. Ingrid’s gameplay trailer was released so recently – only a week ago – that an announcement at the tournament seems less likely.

Summer Game Fest is coming up soon, and fans are eager to find out which new characters will be added to the game as downloadable content. There’s a strong rumor that Tifa Lockheart from Final Fantasy VII might be one of them.

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2026-04-28 22:22