Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
EVO proves to bring the hype for fighting games year after year. And it feels like each year, the event outdoes itself in terms of home viewership numbers. This year is no different and the latest viewership record fell during the main event of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
According to esports guru Rod "Slasher" Breslau on Twitter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate broke the EVO concurrent viewership record by surpassing 279,000 viewers during the Top 8. This comes only one year after the last time EVO broke the same record. That happened during Dragon Ball FighterZ, which peaked at 258,000 concurrent viewers.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Top 8 featured a parade of some of the game's best players from around the world. After running through top names like France's William "Gluttony" Belaid, Japan's Tetsuya "Raito" Ishiguro, and American player Ezra "Samsora" Morris, the Grand Finals came down to Gavin "Tweek" Dempsey and Leonardo "MkLeo" Lopez. Tweek was up 2-0 and needed only one more game to clinch the tournament. However, Leo roared back with Joker and took the next five games to close out EVO 2019 as the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate world champion.
This is where it should be noted that Dragon Ball FighterZ, despite that record-breaking performance last year, was relegated to a Saturday afternoon Top 8 this year. Even with that unenviable time slot, the Top 8 still proved to be an incredible spectacle, culminating with Goichi "GO1" Kushida avenging last year's Grand Finals loss to Dominique "SonicFox" McLean.
Maybe for EVO 2020, both games can get a Sunday slot to duke it out for all the viewership marbles? Whether that happens remains to be seen.