TOs confirm EVO Japan 2023 stage setup negatively impacted competitors

Published , by Morgan Shaver

Following events at EVO Japan 2023 held from March 31 through April 2, some interesting and also dismaying details have come to light in regards to this year’s setup. As expressed by a number of tournament organizers and attendees, the event could have been handled better, with many walking away with less than stellar things to say about their time at EVO Japan 2023.

As shared by @PunkDaGod, a lot was put into attending the tournament with them having spent over $2,000 and a 16-hour plane flight to get there. With this, Punk notes that it was disappointing to arrive and see things like match delays as long as 4 hours. Chiming in, @whatiskami confirmed that many matches experienced delays, with a 2-hour delay causing them to have to play one of their final matches off stream.

Further support came from the likes of @TheHadou who stated the importance of confirming that Punk and others were right, and that the “Evo Japan 2023 stage setup negatively impacted players. It is is also necessary to confirm it was the stage and stream design itself, not the INZONE monitors.”

The EVO account went on to say that, “We are committed to making great player experiences globally. Our US team will work closely with our partners in Japan to align this event series with community expectations. Evo Japan has limitless potential as an experience and destination. We will ensure it reaches it for you.”

The official accounts for EVO acknowledged the flawed experience after receiving a fair amount of backlash for it, apologizing for the “flawed competitor experience” before promising that it’ll never happen again.

Overall, it certainly sounds like a frustrating experience for those who attended EVO Japan 2023, though it’s nice to see this being openly acknowledged. Have you heard any negative reports out of EVO Japan 2023? Let us know in Chatty! For more on EVO, be sure to read through some of our previous coverage as well, including an overview of EVO Japan’s 2023 schedule, brackets, prize pool, and games.