SNK's The King of Fighters XV will feature on the EVO 2022 roster this summer when the tournament returns in early August. EVO has undergone an extensive amount of change over the last couple of years. Organizers canceled the 2020 event due to COVID concerns, for one; shortly thereafter, allegatations of sexual misconduct were leveled against CEO Joey Cuellar, resulting in his being released from duty. In early 2021, Sony Interactive Entertainmnt acquired EVO in a joint venture with RTS, in part placing the world's largest fighting game tournament under PlayStation leadership.
Evolution Championship Series returns this year with an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Sony and RTS plan on hosting the fighting game tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino from August 5 through August 7. And KoF fans need not worry - developer SNK Corporation has already confirmed that King of Fighters 15 will appear on the Evo 2022 roster. Thus far, the list of playable titles also includes the likes of Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate, Tekken 7, GranBlue Fantasy: Versus, and Street Fighter V: Championship Edition.
One notable franchise will be missing from this year's fighting game festivities, since Nintendo recently announced that Smash Bros. won't appear at EVO 2022 this summer. Why the publisher pulled its hit competitive brand out of the lineup remains a mystery, though many posit that Sony's acquisition of the tournament could explain the decision. Hopefully, Smash Bros.' absence from the tournament will end in the coming years.
The King of Fighters XV is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.