Marvel's Absence from Evo 2018 Fuels Community Backlash

We've covered the state of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite in the past, highlighting the fighting game community's skepticism regarding the business model and future of the game. and destructive towards the game based on early photos. The community's "underdog" mentality surrounding the game has been a driving force since the game was released, and hasn't stopped since. So, you can imagine the outcry surrounding the decision of keeping Marvel out of the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) 2018 main stage lineup, in favor of two Smash games and a game that hasn’t even released yet. We've heard tons of support from the Marvel community, some who sincerely feel that Mr. Wizard and the Evo selection committee got this wrong. 

A Matter of Self-Importance

The closest parallel we can find to this situation is the recent struggles steroid-tainted baseball players like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire have had trying to get elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Baseball Writers of America, as a group, are seemingly “punishing” these athletes for using steroids, and will not allow them to be voted into the Hall of Fame for that reason. A similar tactic was used by Pro Football Hall of Fame voters to “punish” wide receiver Terrell Owens for being a less-than-stellar teammate. As far as we're concerned, there’s absolutely no reason Marvel shouldn’t be included over other games, just take a look at the numbers Marvel has generated in North American tournaments alone:

Frosty's 140. 5th largest game.
Kumite In Tennessee 75. 4th largest game.
Northeast Championship 163. 3rd largest game.
Canada Cup 169. 4th largest game.
Fall Classic 99. 3rd largest game.
Combo Breaker year-to-date is ahead of 2017.

If you love to compete in Marvel, lotta others do too.

See you soon.

— Rick (@TheHadou) February 7, 2018

Not to mention that even the much-maligned Battle of the Stones tournament still received 10,000 views on a Twitch channel that was created only a few days before the event and went on concurrent to the Capcom Cup finals. Michael “IFC Yipes” Mendoza and Victor "Punk" Woodley's first to 100 wins series had around 1,000 viewers for 5 straight hours, and you’re telling us the numbers don’t justify Marvel’s place at EVO?

Let’s listen to John “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar, often the voice of the Evolution Championship Series, and hear his exact words here as to why Marvel wasn’t included.

The quote that has many confused and upset is, “We support games people actually play.” That’s a funny line, considering two things: BlazBlue’s appearances year after year at Evo…

BlazBlue attendance vs MVCI attendance at recent events:

Frosty: 104 for BlazBlue vs. 140 for MVCI
Kumite in Tennessee: 21 for BB vs 75 for MVCI
Northeast Championship: 88 for BB vs 163 for MVCI
Canada Cup: 50 for BB vs 169 MVCI
Fall Classic: 29 BB, 99 MVCI

But according to Wiz, Marvel isn't at Evo because "we support games people actually play"

Oh, and the fact that BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle isn’t even out yet! So how can people play a game that hasn’t been released?

All About The Benjamins, Baby

The other argument we've seen quite often is that fact that these other games generate more money than Marvel would, and it wouldn’t be cost-efficient to drop a Smash game or Guilty Gear for Marvel. If it’s all about the money, then why stop at Smash? Let’s get UFC 3 a spot at EVO next year then, right? It’s similar enough to a fighting game and would bring large sums of money, especially when considering of all the crossover appeal! Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is a huge fighting game fan and streams regularly on Twitch, so why not include UFC 3 at Evo? Or, why not have the WWE 2K games be included? It’s well documented that Austin “Xavier Woods” Creed is also a huge fighting game fan, evidenced by his own Twitch stream and his YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown. Wrestling’s close enough to fighting, right? So why not include that as well for even more dough?

After the dust settled, former MadCatz head and current Evo head of global business Mark "Markman" Julio said, 

Photo Credit: Eventhubs

This adds a whole new wrench into the story. Is Marvel's removal from the main stage lineup really the Evo team or Capcom's fault? Or, is the other half of the equation to blame? Only time will truly tell. 

A United Community Responds

If there's one thing we've learned about the community, it's that they will still support Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite no matter how grim the situation may seem. We’ve already seen tons of support from players like Persia, Gilbert "HB|Punisherx6" Matos, Michael "IFC|Yipes" Mendoza, Daniel "Cl0ckwork" Maniago, and more be vocal in their support for the game. The most important thing, as fans of the game, is to continue to tune in, stream the game, play it at tournaments, monthlies, and weeklies, and never give up hope.

"Don't get me wrong... I am bummed we didn't get into Evo this year. We didn't get in on the first year of our new game... But it only means that if we, as a community, are serious about our love for the game - its time to show up. We did this before, time to do it again."

— Persia

If you need more Marvel in your life, check out our interview with Gilbert "HB|Punisher" Matos!