Olivia Richman is a seasoned esports journalist who has worked with Inven Global, Esports Illustrated, Esports.gg, and more. As an editor and writer at Esports Insider, she loves telling unique esports stories, especially within the FGC. When not working and gaming, Olivia loves collecting Kirby plush, eating sushi, and driving her cars at the track.
Image Credit: Red Bull There has been a lot of chatter about Evo Vegas losing its prestige. Even Arslan Ash himself has mentioned this before. After a Saudi Arabian company purchased Evo and announced a massive circuit expansion, many pros and fans felt the hype around the event was dying. Once the culmination of the season, it seemed Evo Vegas was becoming just another tournament.
On social media, the FGC lamented that the price was too high when they could just go to an Evo near them instead. When I flew to Las Vegas, I immediately noticed the difference. The FGC is not just all talk. They truly didn’t show up. The badge line was empty. I was able to play any arcade game I wanted because the crowd was smaller. I could easily sit in the front at any stage during pools.
But when it came to the Main Stage, you’d never be able to tell that Evo Vegas was missing anybody. The stadium was packed. The fans were just as passionate, hype, and loud as ever, chanting insider callouts and taking bets on matches. And the pros in Top 8 were giving it their all. The matches were insane to watch.
And Arslan Ash won the Tekken 8 tournament. Just like always.
Nothing really seemed off when it came to the tournaments themselves. But speaking with Arslan Ash, he is still quite confident that Evo is going in the wrong direction.
8x EVO Champion. Alhamdulillah. ❤️🏆🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/3Trv5va53E
Back in 2025, Evo announced plans to expand beyond Las Vegas and Tokyo, revealing the Paris location for 2026 and Singapore for 2027.
“Evo used to feel like one legendary event where the whole world came to compete,” Arslan Ash tweeted at the time. “Now with three Evo’s (and four next year), it’s slowly losing that prestige. I miss the days when there was only one Evo, one champion, one moment that defined the year.”
This is an unsurprising sentiment from the FGC, which values authenticity and passion above all else. Even as it’s grown, it has remained somewhat grassroots, focused more on the current community rather than expanding into the mainstream.
But Evo continued to grow. After it was purchased by a Saudi Arabian company, Evo shared even more upcoming locations, possibly making a circuit that culminates in a championship-type event. And Evo Vegas started pushing for more viewership, bringing on streamers that the FGC felt were not genuine members of the scene. And let me be clear: the FGC would rather stay broke than have views from these streamers’ fans.
Image Credit: Ray Codera / Esports Insider I met up with Arslan Ash at Red Bull’s lounge ahead of the weekend’s Tekken tourney and asked him what Evo Vegas means to him now that more events are on the way. Does he still feel that Evo has lost its prestige?
“This year is fine. We only had three Evo,” he said. “Europe somehow makes sense. It’s huge. Some people cannot travel to the United States or Japan. Having one there is kind of okay. But adding seven Evo… I think it’s too much.”
Arslan Ash told me that the only way this would all make sense is to make…