PlayStation recently announced alongside the renowned fighting game competitions it is known for, this year's Evo 2022 will also feature a live show called PlayStation Tournaments: Evo Lounge.
This show's main purpose will to be cover the ongoing tournaments, provide bracket updates, and interview top players, and it is said to be hosted by "players and commentators who live and breathe the FGC." However, on top of that, PlayStation states that the show will also feature "exciting content and reveals" from various publishers such as WB Games, Capcom, SNK, Arc System Works, and Bandai Namco.
They go on to say that viewers of the Evo Lounge will be witness to the "latest news for our favorite games and a few sneak peeks of what’s ahead." The live show will run on August 5 and 6 and will be watchable via PlayStation's official channels on both YouTube and Twitch. The previously revealed fighting games part of Evo 2022's tournament line-up are as follows:
- Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
- Guilty Gear -Strive-
- Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
- Tekken 7
- The King of Fighters XV
- Melty Blood: Type Lumina
- Dragonball FighterZ
- Granblue Fantasy: Versus
- Skullgirls: 2nd Encore
Guilty Gear Strive
The Evolution Championship Series, or as it's commonly shortened to, Evo, has been one of the biggest and most recognized esports events since its inception. Focused specifically on fighting games, it always features a sizeable line-up of playable titles. These are among the biggest and most played games within the fighting game community, each of which gets its own tournament bracket. This year's brackets will run from August 5 to August 7, and it will be the first Evo event to occur offline, meaning in-person, since 2019.
Moreover, it's the second Evo event that will take place under the direction of Sony and PlayStation. PlayStation announced the purchase of the Evo license back in early 2021, and since they could only hold an online event that year due to the pandemic, this is the first year that PlayStation will prove what it can do with the Evo name in terms of a live in-person event. PlayStation's effort to become a notable entity within the world of esports is clear; just recently, the company announced the purchase of repeat.gg, an online tournament hosting platform.
They are placing their brand front and centre by calling their live show the 'PlayStation Tournaments: Evo Lounge', and it's a good association to make if the event will feature well-known commentators and respected top players. The reveals from big publishers in the fighting game space will undoubtedly bring a lot of eyes as well. It's not the most common thing to see a first-party platform like PlayStation host an event specifically for other publishers' reveals. Doing so further connects PlayStation to these fighting game powerhouses and may earn them favour with them in the future.
When it comes to what you can expect for these Evo 2022 reveals, Arc System Works and Bandai Namco are so prolific with their titles that it's near impossible to make an accurate prediction of what's coming next for them. Capcom, however, is most likely revealing information on Street Fighter 6. The initial thought with WB Games is to expect more MultiVersus information, perhaps another character reveal, or a specific release date for Rick and Morty, though the first reveal of the rumoured-in-development Mortal Kombat 12 is not impossible.