Fighting games have an accessibility issue, but not because of the game itself

My first EVO was held in Cal Poly Pomona back in 2003. It's a messy and enthusiastic action, in which a bunch of monsters stuffed into one of the university's halls, play fighting games and watch the best games from all over North America (and the Japanese players they convinced to participate). If you want to watch or play some games, there are a bunch of PlayStation 2 consoles and arcade machines, some projection screens, and some seating. No ads or major announcements – Entertainment during the downtime includes fan-made combined videos and streaming Contra III elevated people. Despite all the tech ic and obvious motivation to run things as cheaply as possible, we all Being loved It's there.

I never dreamed that in nearly 25 years Evo would be one of Gaming’s favorite annual events: celebrations of love and community in fighting games, even if people who really don’t like this type will watch online. Evo now occupies the entire large hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where thousands of players around the world have the opportunity to compete and share their passion for fighting games in many ways – whether it’s to play, compete, paint and sell art, at artists Alley, cosplaying, or just people who are playing with everyone, they’ve never seen them. In a way, the main event of EVO has gone from a tournament to a full-fledged fighting game conference, and now the tournament is just a major part of the show and is not necessarily the only reason many are there.

However, with this rapid growth, prices have reached huge prices. If you do not purchase your ticket early, the weekend match has passed EVO 2025 Each official game you want to play is about $250, plus $10. If you pay early and just want to watch or attend a leisure event with other attendees, that will still get you back $180. This doesn't take all the other costs into account: gas or air tickets to Las Vegas, and then stay there, transport, food. This doesn't take into account the other bunch of other miscellaneous expenses you might have accidentally encountered (your joystick bag is too big? This is the check bag fee). Of course, there are ways to cut costs – the tried and tested method of stuffing a bunch of people into a single hotel room is a favorite – but usually they can end up with just as much or more. Stay in a cheap hotel far from LVCC? When you enter the 105-degree Las Vegas summer heat, you will abandon the idea of walking and get the Lyft.

While EVO is as lively this year as 2024 and is much better overall, a few people I know are usually reliable event attendees. In fact, most of the faces I often see attending weekly and monthly Portland area fighting game parties and not attending EVO. For some, a big reason is work or life conflict, but even these are factors, there is always another thing: “It’s too expensive.”

Moreover, EVO is inaccessible, which is what many large-scale fighting game activities have become very expensive. My partner and I went to the group destroyer in suburban Chicago in 2023 and had a great time. We would love to go back, but for us it was almost as expensive as the evo. I wanted to join the Orlando community effort, but it was both an expensive outing and a long flight from the Pacific Northwest. I can only compete in one big fighting competition a year, so I need to choose wisely.

This is not always the case. Fighting games are considered “working class” esports. Many of the beloved players have come from obviously less private backgrounds over the years: inspiring stories of kids who have to be kind on fighters because they want to extend the dormitory of the arcade, or because they have only prepared a few games for their consoles. The top players in all the games come from all over the world. The great level equalizer is “How can you button?”

Despite this, many players have a hard time playing in these big games. Incredible players in many regions, including North America itself, simply cannot compete on the global stage due to the prices of travel, accommodation and competitions. Depending on your nationality, you may have a long, arduous and expensive visa process before you can play anywhere else outside of your country – approval is not guaranteed. (It was a small miracle that the Pakistani Iron Fist champions managed to compete in their first EVO event a few years ago.) These obstacles are very difficult for many talented but unknown players who are not sponsored.

If you are just a typical fighting gamer, large matches can be even more difficult. Statistically, you probably won't win EVO and get any bonuses back. In fact, you'll likely be ranked 0-2 in a big game with a 0-2 result. And, most people know that, essentially, you're having a great weekend with other fighting game nerds. But when they can go online to find the people people catch, are the average fighting gamers willing or capable of paying for this experience?

Indeed, many young fighting game players may grow through online competition, but many players also value the face-to-face and common aspects of fighting games. However, depending on where you live, local options for smaller in-person parties and tournaments can be limited. Even small fighting game events can put you at financial risk – event space is not cheap, especially when internet packages are considered (as the event is usually expected to be live). Maybe, if you’re lucky, you can find a place that is willing to give you some space in the discount – at Portland’s monthly fighting game party that happens at cards, tabletop game stores and bars. Then, you may find that becoming a tournament operator is a tiring and often unhappy position. Many people trying to establish a local event will fall into burnout after just a short period of time – it requires a certain mindset and dedication to keep the work aligned and not everyone can manage it.

In addition to this, the number of established, medium-sized fighting game activities has been greatly reduced in the past few years. As EVO and other big fighting games prices rise, SoCal and Norcal areas such as Kumite in Tennessee and the more affordable mid-sized areas on the East Coast disappear. Some of these events paused during the joint period and never came back. Some people are getting bigger and bigger, for hotels and college union banquet halls, they are hosted, but not big enough to afford the meeting space. Some people left because the organizers were just exhausted or needed to keep going.

At the same time, players who do have the ability to participate in large events (both from pocket or through sponsorship) have advantages. Events like Capcom World Tour, Iron Fist World Tour and SNK World Championship offer huge prizes, but participating in these events usually means getting into as many large qualifiers as possible – traveling, which requires money. And, sponsors are only willing to pay for events that look like good investments – promoting small and medium-sized matches around efforts to attract non-local top players that can encourage more people to participate.

This situation not only hurts the players, but also people who like to watch the game. Everyone loves to see losers and/or new blood perform well – just look at how many hearts young Micky has won in this year's EVO's third-place Street Fighter 6 run. But think about many other talented players we don't even know who we have no idea Can There are similar amazing performances in these big stages. They can't because there are too many obstacles.

How to solve this problem? It's hard to come up with a clear solution, but there are ideas. Despite the warnings, many publishers have already held online qualifiers for some of their large events – in some cases you still need to worry about your travel and accommodation costs. The idea of online competition around the world is shocking, as even the most powerful rollback net code can be bent under the weight of a transcontinental journey, or even just fake Wi-Fi.

Maybe publishers and hardware manufacturers themselves might help. Helping sponsor some smaller local events in the metro area will be a step in community engagement and can lay the foundation for larger, better events to move forward. Maybe a community “scholarship” fund could be established to help promising players afford large events and make their mark. In some cases, maybe we can offer discounted activity passes. I'm really just spitting here, but it's obvious that if we don't start solving this in the bud, it can cause lasting damage to the souls of the fighting game community.

While I had a great time at Evo 2025 and was happy to see how far it went, it also felt like it was heading in a shocking direction. The eye-catching Chipotle advertising location is one thing – of course, when the money gets bigger, the business element will have to join. Instead, the truth is, a lot of people I know won't go to Evo again. Evo used to be where you go because all your battle game friends will be together one weekend of the year. But Evo and other big games are becoming more and more unique. Fighting games should be open to everyone and we need to make the potential glory as wide as possible.