Evo 2019's Solid Snake Tekken cameo video has been so poorly received the organization has issued an apology to fans, stating that the idea for the joke was theirs alone and that no other party - especially not Bandai Namco - was consulted on it. Evo 2019 was a success in terms of viewership and memorable moments, with an emotional Grand Finals between GO1 and SonicFox in Dragon Ball FighterZ coloring a weekend that was full of surprises and incredible fighting game play.
Evo 2019 was already set to be the site of a major reveal - just for a different game. Capcom had scheduled a massive Street Fighter 5 announcement for the game's Evo appearance, waiting to reveal the return of E. Honda to the roster alongside two other fighters. Unfortunately for the company, that information was leaked well ahead of the Evo 2019 weekend, leading Capcom to release information about the DLC early and embrace the unplanned coverage. Perhaps because of that, and the fact that Evo is often the spot where major fighting games choose to reveal big information, Tekken fans were ready to believe that Solid Snake of Metal Gear Solid fame would be joining their game as DLC in the future.
Just before the Tekken 7 Grand Finals at Evo 2019, Snake spoke over a Metal Gear Solid codec and led those in attendance to believe a reveal was imminent, but Evo has since clarified that the video was simply a joke that went too far. The company took to Twitter to apologize for the release of the codec, which featured Snake stating "That was some good-ass Tekken" before it cut back to the build-up to the Grand Finals. According to Evo, the decision to pull the prank was made entirely by the company and it had no input from Bandai Namco on pulling it:
Naturally, fans are extremely upset with the company for teasing such a great inclusion only for it to be revealed it isn't coming. Luckily for the company, Evo 2019 was such a well-received event as a whole that the incident will likely be forgotten well before Evo 2020 rolls around. It's also worth noting that Bandai Namco did have a reveal: a new character in Leroy Smith and the return of Zafina. Both of those reveals helped dull the rancid response to the ill-timed joke.
If nothing else, Evo 2019's fake-out Tekken 7 Solid Snake reveal is an example of how not all press is good press and companies need to consider their audiences a bit more when looking to make a splash with controversial decisions. The fighting game community is one of the most tightly-knit in all of gaming, and given how supportive members of that community typically are for each other, it's a bit tone-deaf of Evo to do something that was only ever going to end in hurt feelings and disappointment.
Source: EVO/Twitter