The fighting game lineup for Evo 2026 has been revealed and there’s a notable absence: Mortal Kombat 1. Just three years after it launched, the content-complete sequel is not getting invited back to the world’s biggest annual fighting game event. Johnny Cage and Subzero will instead be making way for Invincible Vs and the League of Legends fighter 2XKO.
The Evolution Championship Series, another piece of gaming culture that was recently sold in part to Saudi Arabia, brings fighting game pros and fans to Las Vegas every summer for several days of big stage face-offs and passion-fueled side-tournaments. While Street Fighter remains king, other fighting games vie for top billing and occasionally circulate out of the main event. Despite having one of the wildest grassroots fandoms around, Nintendo’s Smash Bros. Ultimate was a no-show at Evo 2022 back when the event was owned by competitor Sony.
EVO Las Vegas 2026 lineup:
-SF6
-Tekken 8
-Fatal Fury CotW
-Under Night In-Birth Sys:Celes
-Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
-Rivals of Aether 2
-2XKO
-Guilty Gear Strive
-BlazBlue Centralfiction
-Virtua Fighter 5 REVO World Stage
-Vampire Savior
-Invincible Vs pic.twitter.com/Ar5In2RCNn
— Wario64 (@Wario64) December 10, 2025
This year’s big changes see Mortal Kombat 1 dropped from the lineup while games like BlazBlue Centralfiction, released a decade ago, get called back up to the majors. Some fans are wondering if it will be a wake-up call for NetherRealms, whose reboot of the franchise wasn’t bad but never quite hit the “we’re so back” vibes many were hoping for.
Other notable swap-ins include the new Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, which despite some issues and a content-lite launch has marshaled a passionate community around it, and Rivals of Aether II, the 2024 2D platform fighter that some fans argue still feels like an Early Access sequel.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is also MIA
Even more notable than what was ditched is what wasn’t added. The Sony-published comic book fighting game Marvel Tōkon has a 2026 release window but won’t be on tap for Evo 2026. That suggests the heir apparent to Marvel vs. Capcom won’t be out until late in the year. Marvel Tōkon feels like the only recent new fighting game reveal to break through to a more casual audience and gin up excitement outside of the hardcore crowd, so it would have been a neat pick-up for next year’s event.
Developer Arc System Works has been using Evo to reveal new bits about the 4v4 fighting game, so it seems likely it’ll still be involved with the tournament series in some way, just not as an esport. The game’s continued to run closed betas that have garnered lots of positive buzz so far. Hopefully it doesn’t get delayed to 2027.
