Evo 2018 was packed with fighting games! From the eight games in the main lineup, to the plethora of side tournaments, there was a lot going on at Evo 2018. While most of the games featured this year made a lot of sense, next year will be a little harder to predict. There are potentially five new fighting games that could release in time for Evo 2019, all of which could see their first appearance at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. With all those new games and a lot of returning favorites, how does Evo decide which games to take? Let’s take a closer look at how things might shake out next year.

Returning Games

• Street Fighter V
• Tekken 7
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

Barring any surprising drops in tournament attendance over the next year, at least four games are virtually guaranteed to return to the Evo main stage in 2019. Street Fighter V is a mainstay at the event, which has been heavily Capcom focused through much of its history. Tekken 7 is the premiere 3D fighting game and boasted the third highest entry numbers this year, with a huge DLC announcement that should easily keep the game front and center over the next year.

Dragon Ball FighterZ had the highest turnout of any game at Evo and was the most viewed game during the event according to GitHyp. It was only the first year for the Bandai Namco and Arc System Works collaboration, which means it has a bright future ahead. While attendance will likely drop next year (possibly to number two behind Street Fighter V) due to the first year glow wearing off, there’s no chance FighterZ doesn’t make the cut in 2019.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is really the only title of the group that gave us some doubts. While it had a great turnout in 2018 with nearly 1,200 entrants, some could call into question the longevity of the tournament scene. Even so, Arc System Works announced the ArcRevo tournament series for all of its fighting games and the Cross Tag Battle finals ended with the announcement of new characters and a tease at a 5th IP coming to the game, which should keep the tournament scene healthy. That said, with Cross Tag Battle being so new, it’s a little harder to make a call this early. We certainly expect it to be a main game at Evo 2019, but that prediction isn’t quite as guaranteed as the other games.

Newcomers

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Guilty Gear
• Soulcalibur VI
• Dead or Alive 6
• Mortal Kombat XI

At this point, we already have confirmation that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Soulcalibur VI and Dead or Alive 6 will be released late this year or early next year. That’s plenty of time for each of the games to potentially make it into Evo 2019. Arc System Works also confirmed a new Guilty Gear is in the works according to Crunchyroll, but even if it’s not out in time for Evo 2019, there’s a pretty good chance Xrd Rev2 will be used instead.

The elephant in the room is Mortal Kombat. While a lot of people were expecting a new MK announcement at E3 2018, that never happened. This has caused a stir in the gaming community, with some wondering if a new MK will debut next year as most had assumed. We have it on fairly good authority that a new Mortal Kombat will be announced later this year. While we don’t have release details, we expect it to release following the standard NetherRealm Studios schedule, sometime between April and June 2019.

What About Melee?

You may have noticed that we haven’t said a word about Super Smash Bros. Melee. The game has been featured at Evo for many years now and had over 1,300 entrants in 2018. While Super Smash Bros. Wii U had slightly more entrants, it was clear that fans thoroughly enjoyed Melee being at Evo. However, there have been some comments made by the Evo organizers about Melee possibly not returning next year. It may seem like a no-brainer to include Melee alongside Smash Ultimate, but there are some good reasons to leave it out next year.

With so many new fighting games releasing, Evo will already be hard-pressed to fit them all into a three-day event. The Melee community has been vocal about wanting 3 out of 5 sets at Evo, but time constraints and other factors have kept the game at 2 out of 3 until the finals. This has already caused issues between Evo and the Melee community. When you consider the fact that Melee is the only game that requires CRT televisions and GameCube hardware, it makes a compelling argument to exclude the game next year.

While Melee does get a large number of entrants that don’t cross-pollinate, participating only in Melee and no other tournaments, that number would easily be made up by the potential addition of a new entries for Mortal Kombat, Soulcalibur and Dead or Alive. That's not to mention all the new people that will pick up Smash Ultimate. Leaving Melee out isn’t ideal, but it may be a necessary step for 2019.

The Evo 2019 Lineup

Guaranteed Games

• Street Fighter V
• Tekken 7
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Guilty Gear
• Soulcalibur VI

High Probability

• BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
• Dead or Alive 6
• Mortal Kombat XI

Maybe

• Super Smash Bros. Melee

Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Soulcalibur VI, and Smash Ultimate are virtually guaranteed to be included in Evo 2019. If a new Guilty Gear arrives, it’s also a lock, but Rev2 is a likely addition otherwise. That’s six games that you can pretty much guarantee will be included in Evo 2019, but the rest come with a few caveats.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is probably a lock. We only question it because the game is so new and we really don’t know how well the tournament scene will hold up, but with a mysterious fifth IP coming to the game and an unknown pool of further characters promised, the game itself is only going to keep growing. As such, we very much expect it to be included in the roster. That makes seven games for Evo 2019 already, and for the last two years Evo has only included eight total games in the main lineup. However, Evo 2015 and 2016 went the extra mile to include nine games.

If a new Mortal Kombat is announced and releases in time for Evo 2019, it’s guaranteed to be included. We listed it as a high probability simply because we can’t 100 percent confirm it’s going to release in time. If MK makes it to Evo 2019, that’s eight games which all likely take priority over Dead or Alive 6. While DOA4 was featured at Evo 2006, and DOA5 was an official side tournament at Evo 2018 (with a special showcase for DOA6), the franchise doesn’t have the tournament history that many of the other games do.

The Dead or Alive 5: Last Round side tournament at Evo 2018 was the largest tournament in the history of the franchise with less than 160 entrants. Injustice 2, the lowest main game at Evo 2018, more than doubled that number with 363 entrants, and that was down from 883 entrants the year before. However, DOA5 is a six year old game, and DOA6 will be brand new for 2019. It makes sense to give DOA another shot with the release of a new game, and a renewed focus on the competitive scene.

Dead or Alive 6 definitely has a right to be at Evo 2019. The only question is will there be room for the new game? It’s not out of the question for Evo to include nine games in the main lineup. If that’s the case, there’s room for DOA6 and a new Mortal Kombat, so long as Melee is left out. Assuming Evo extends to nine games, something has to give. Either MK doesn’t release in time, or one game is left out between Melee and DOA6.

The Evo games lineup is traditionally revealed early in the year, usually in late January. This year the games were revealed in early February, shortly after Evo Japan. Next year Evo Japan takes place February 15-17, but it’s unclear if the Evo 2019 games announcement will be pushed back again to keep it after Evo Japan. Either way, we still have another six months or so to debate on which games will be included. Stay tuned to Twin Galaxies as we continue to cover all things Evo 2019 over the next 12 months.