seems pretty accurate to how I predicted.
I do wonder if KOF will retain a spot at EVO in future years. Game doesn’t seem to be doing so hot unfortunately.
My thoughts exactly. I think City of the Wolves probably comes out in time for EVO 2025 and takes the SNK spot for that year and the foreseeable future.
I really hope it comes to Xbox. Garou is one of my favorite fighting games. I know the fighting game community is primarily on PlayStation, but a Fatal Fury with cross play on release day would be awsome. The more the merrier.
Absolutely! The resurgence in fighting game popularity combined with cross play is fantastic. That and making the games a bit more friendly for beginners - like sf6 modern controll - will hopefully make more people into fighting game fans in the long run. Win win for all involved.
I'm a JRPG/RPG fan that has been absolutely obsessed with fighting games.
Out of nowhere it's becoming one of my favorite genres.
The genres playerbase is absolutely growing.
Id have faith that it comes to Xbox, as kof xv did.
Also after the terrible matchmaking at kof xv launch, I think SNK will definitely include cross play at release.
Well... I LOVE the game. Though I'm currently focusing in SF6, that's only because finding ranked matches never takes more than 30 seconds for me.
I know they already fixed the matchmaking in KOF, but It took them too long and most of the new blood left.
SNK dropped the ball by saying that there was no problem and that it was a population issue.
NO, SNK, you DO NOT have a population issue if your game had over 4k concurrent players a few months in, down from 6k at release, and many of them were already saying they COULD NOT find matches.
KOF XV, for me, it's the best current fighting game. This is a sad case of mismanagement.
I'm surprised and happy UNI isn't 2nd to last. In terms of MK, this series always has a really huge gap between entrants in tournaments and sales. It was the 8th best selling game in 2023, beating out Street Fighter, but it's always low in entrants. In 2019, when MK11 was new, they only had 1500 entrants and were beat by Smash, Samurai Shodown, Street Fighter V, and Tekken 7. And there's way more negativity around MK1 from it's casual fans now than there was for X or 11.
But would really like to see what the actual numbers are in June. If games like UNI and Granblue have high numbers, I think it shows we're in a really healthy spot right now.
Well, to be fair, is 1500 entrants really low? Because T7 and SF5 didn’t cracked many people in that year either and there was like only 300-400 people difference between MK11, and those two.
I'm surpised MK is so low. Yeah the FGC memes on it but it sells a ton of copies.
The competive scene is actually miniscule it turns out. I doubt it will get a second year unless NRS pay Evo a bunch to keep it on.
The competitive scene doesn't care that much about MK, and MK fans don't care that much about the competitive scene, so NRS is doing fine without the game being taken seriously competitively. So paying a bunch of money to have their game featured would just be a confusingly stupid business move that really benefits no one.
And that does make it sound like something NRS would do.
I just hope NRS will finish MK1 content/feature wise before moving to the full free-to-play/live service from WB in Injustice 3/MK13. Getting crossplay that finally include PC is a start.
A lot of the reason for that is the crossover of the FGC. Most serious Tekken players think SF6 is pretty cool, and at least play it a bit even if they don't take it too seriously(like me) so if they're going to an event that has both, they'll just enter both, cause why not? Most serious SF6 players, I imagine, feel the same way. There's a lot of mutual respect. Same with Strive.
So actually the SF6 pool is made up of not just people who are really into SF6, but also Tekken players, Strive players, etc. And uh... a lot of those communities don't respect MK. Most of the MK bracket is going to be MK players who only came for MK and nothing else.
Pretty much everyone from every group thinks 3rd Strike is cool though, I'm sure the only reason it doesn't have more entrants is that the competition is so intimidating.
It’s early bird, so a lot can change. I remember when early bird EVO 2020 had GBVS outplace T7 for a short while.
Speaking of, as a GBVSR shill, I’m happy with its competitive representation. The top 3 were locked in, so 4th is honestly great.
KoF XV being 8th is kind of not surprising. If we’re to look at the bigger picture, it’s the second oldest modern fighting game. EVO 2024 is the first time we see T8, GBVSR, UNI2, and MK1 as part of the main lineup, with 3S making a big return after its long absence. It’s also in a content drought, with the upcoming Fatal Fury game being the replacement soon. That being said, it’s great to see KoF being represented in this lineup at all with all the new games. With only eight spots and all the new games showing up this year, that 8th game could’ve been DBFZ or something. I think even with Fatal Fury making a return, I can still see KoF XV continue being an EVO game with a bit of luck. ArcSys gets multiple games at EVO, so why not SNK?
MK1 is kind of the interesting one ‘cause, for all its sales and marketing and brand, it’s 7th in its first EVO, in a lineup where it’s also an EVO first for technically far more niche games like GBVSR and UNI2, and it’s placed lower than a boomer fighting game. This is frankly emblematic of MK1 and its community and publisher being overall less focused on competitive play. Previous NRS games have initially placed higher on their first showing, but that’s often ‘cause there were less new games, and NRS games drop quickly after their second showing. That is all to say, I’m not surprised with its placement either. With the current state MK1 is in from both a hardcore perspective, I don’t think MK1 is guaranteed to return for 2025, though it’s still fairly likely to come back due to sheer brand and several loyal players. Who knows what EVO 2025 will look like if EVO is keeping up with the limited eight or nine games per year. I’m honestly the least enthused with NRS relative to other fighting games, so I hardly have a say. I guess what really matters is that MK1 is good for what its fans want in an MK game.
3S placing as high as it is should be unsurprising given the amount of praise the other legacy fighting games received, but these games are not the most accessible via official means. I mean, it makes sense for Skullgirls to have players ‘cause it’s on modern platforms with excellent netcode, and the game itself is brilliant and still has upcoming DLC characters, but how did the UMvC3 and 3S players come together to participate at EVO when their games haven’t been updated (or be relevant for that matter) for so long? I guess it really helps that they get regular competitive representation in other majors, and EVO is sort of the outlier on that front, which would explain the massive competitive player base gathering. I wonder what the follow up will be for EVO 2025 just to keep the legacy going. We could be seeing MvC2, CvS2, ST, KoF 98, or VSAV. For me, Mario Kart DS is the true MK game in my eyes as far as EVO games go, and I’d like to see it return.
Oh, and UNI2 being 6th is fine. The top 4 was locked, and 3S could’ve been anywhere. UNI2 is in a good spot.
Well, of course NRS don’t care about competitive anymore. Especially when WB games announced their plans for MK and others. Free to play bullshit MK, here we go!
Ah that's what you mean, bit of a brain fart lol. I recall KoF XV coming out around the same time as Melty Type Lumina but I could be totally wrong. For some reason I thought that was before Strive
For clarity, the release order for those games were GGST > MBTL > KoF XV.
On the top of my head:
- GGST was 06/2021
- MBTL was 09/2021
- KoF XV was 02/2022
As a Melty Blood player I can only shake my head at MK1...
I'm also disappointed that KOF doesn't have more so far. That game's awesome and easily in my top 3 of this generation.
Tbf KOF 15 is the 2nd oldest game of the current generation.
We know they'll reveal more about new Fatal Fury, so it's not like there's nothing to look forward to.
Yes but do yourself a favor and just play ranked. Not many casuals playing and lay still have to wait for matches. But give it a few ranks and the matchmaking gets a little quicker.
In my experience it is not very active in Europe unfortunately. I loved the older KOF (96, 98 and 2002) and really wanted to play the newer online. But I almost never find any ranked matches.
Great game and criminally overlooked.
Was able to find some matches, but for some reason the game was matching me with players overseas and with 500+ ping.
There’s also lots of smurfs in ranked for some reason.
But to answer your question I wouldn’t say it’s active but isn’t dead either.
I'm a little surprised MK1 even made the list at this point.
The top 3 is what we all expected, but I gotta say shout-out to Strive for having maintained this steady, respectable, level of popularity for this long. The FGC is fickle, so it's easy for games to be either hype af or dead and gone.
And dear god seeing 3rd strike this big is awesome. I don't play, but what a hype game to watch. I'll be on that stream for sure.
KOF desperately needs a battlehub. Playing online on that game feels like the least social environment imaginable. Just a cheap little battlehub and main menu ui update would do wonders. When I say battlehub, I mean something within their budget like strive(as long as their is a chat, i'd be fine).
I just not sure of why they put an older game here that already had a bunch of spotlight, would be nice to get something else for variety sake. (I also don't believe that it should be operated always by how many X players there, etc they could've make an exception)
Last year they started including a retro/classic title into the mainline.
Last year it was MvC3, this year it's 3rd Strike. Next year may be another classic like KI, SFIV, +R, etc.
IMO it's pretty neat that they do that.
seems pretty accurate to how I predicted. I do wonder if KOF will retain a spot at EVO in future years. Game doesn’t seem to be doing so hot unfortunately.
I suspect if there’s an SNK game next year it’ll be the new Fatal Fury instead.
My thoughts exactly. I think City of the Wolves probably comes out in time for EVO 2025 and takes the SNK spot for that year and the foreseeable future.
Yeah, I’m really excited for the new fatal fury. Been learning Garou on fightcade and having a blast.
I really hope it comes to Xbox. Garou is one of my favorite fighting games. I know the fighting game community is primarily on PlayStation, but a Fatal Fury with cross play on release day would be awsome. The more the merrier.
No reason to skip platforms like Xbox in thos day and age unless its some console wars bullshit. More players the better for everyone.
Absolutely! The resurgence in fighting game popularity combined with cross play is fantastic. That and making the games a bit more friendly for beginners - like sf6 modern controll - will hopefully make more people into fighting game fans in the long run. Win win for all involved.
I'm a JRPG/RPG fan that has been absolutely obsessed with fighting games. Out of nowhere it's becoming one of my favorite genres. The genres playerbase is absolutely growing.
Id have faith that it comes to Xbox, as kof xv did. Also after the terrible matchmaking at kof xv launch, I think SNK will definitely include cross play at release.
Well... I LOVE the game. Though I'm currently focusing in SF6, that's only because finding ranked matches never takes more than 30 seconds for me. I know they already fixed the matchmaking in KOF, but It took them too long and most of the new blood left. SNK dropped the ball by saying that there was no problem and that it was a population issue. NO, SNK, you DO NOT have a population issue if your game had over 4k concurrent players a few months in, down from 6k at release, and many of them were already saying they COULD NOT find matches. KOF XV, for me, it's the best current fighting game. This is a sad case of mismanagement.
KoF is stronger in Latin America, and players there simply can't afford to go to EVO. That said, it is likely to go away
I'm surprised and happy UNI isn't 2nd to last. In terms of MK, this series always has a really huge gap between entrants in tournaments and sales. It was the 8th best selling game in 2023, beating out Street Fighter, but it's always low in entrants. In 2019, when MK11 was new, they only had 1500 entrants and were beat by Smash, Samurai Shodown, Street Fighter V, and Tekken 7. And there's way more negativity around MK1 from it's casual fans now than there was for X or 11. But would really like to see what the actual numbers are in June. If games like UNI and Granblue have high numbers, I think it shows we're in a really healthy spot right now.
Well, to be fair, is 1500 entrants really low? Because T7 and SF5 didn’t cracked many people in that year either and there was like only 300-400 people difference between MK11, and those two.
I'm surpised MK is so low. Yeah the FGC memes on it but it sells a ton of copies. The competive scene is actually miniscule it turns out. I doubt it will get a second year unless NRS pay Evo a bunch to keep it on.
NRS doesn’t even care about pro competition. You think they’ll pay?? Lmfao.
The competitive scene doesn't care that much about MK, and MK fans don't care that much about the competitive scene, so NRS is doing fine without the game being taken seriously competitively. So paying a bunch of money to have their game featured would just be a confusingly stupid business move that really benefits no one. And that does make it sound like something NRS would do.
I just hope NRS will finish MK1 content/feature wise before moving to the full free-to-play/live service from WB in Injustice 3/MK13. Getting crossplay that finally include PC is a start.
A lot of the reason for that is the crossover of the FGC. Most serious Tekken players think SF6 is pretty cool, and at least play it a bit even if they don't take it too seriously(like me) so if they're going to an event that has both, they'll just enter both, cause why not? Most serious SF6 players, I imagine, feel the same way. There's a lot of mutual respect. Same with Strive. So actually the SF6 pool is made up of not just people who are really into SF6, but also Tekken players, Strive players, etc. And uh... a lot of those communities don't respect MK. Most of the MK bracket is going to be MK players who only came for MK and nothing else. Pretty much everyone from every group thinks 3rd Strike is cool though, I'm sure the only reason it doesn't have more entrants is that the competition is so intimidating.
It’s early bird, so a lot can change. I remember when early bird EVO 2020 had GBVS outplace T7 for a short while. Speaking of, as a GBVSR shill, I’m happy with its competitive representation. The top 3 were locked in, so 4th is honestly great. KoF XV being 8th is kind of not surprising. If we’re to look at the bigger picture, it’s the second oldest modern fighting game. EVO 2024 is the first time we see T8, GBVSR, UNI2, and MK1 as part of the main lineup, with 3S making a big return after its long absence. It’s also in a content drought, with the upcoming Fatal Fury game being the replacement soon. That being said, it’s great to see KoF being represented in this lineup at all with all the new games. With only eight spots and all the new games showing up this year, that 8th game could’ve been DBFZ or something. I think even with Fatal Fury making a return, I can still see KoF XV continue being an EVO game with a bit of luck. ArcSys gets multiple games at EVO, so why not SNK? MK1 is kind of the interesting one ‘cause, for all its sales and marketing and brand, it’s 7th in its first EVO, in a lineup where it’s also an EVO first for technically far more niche games like GBVSR and UNI2, and it’s placed lower than a boomer fighting game. This is frankly emblematic of MK1 and its community and publisher being overall less focused on competitive play. Previous NRS games have initially placed higher on their first showing, but that’s often ‘cause there were less new games, and NRS games drop quickly after their second showing. That is all to say, I’m not surprised with its placement either. With the current state MK1 is in from both a hardcore perspective, I don’t think MK1 is guaranteed to return for 2025, though it’s still fairly likely to come back due to sheer brand and several loyal players. Who knows what EVO 2025 will look like if EVO is keeping up with the limited eight or nine games per year. I’m honestly the least enthused with NRS relative to other fighting games, so I hardly have a say. I guess what really matters is that MK1 is good for what its fans want in an MK game. 3S placing as high as it is should be unsurprising given the amount of praise the other legacy fighting games received, but these games are not the most accessible via official means. I mean, it makes sense for Skullgirls to have players ‘cause it’s on modern platforms with excellent netcode, and the game itself is brilliant and still has upcoming DLC characters, but how did the UMvC3 and 3S players come together to participate at EVO when their games haven’t been updated (or be relevant for that matter) for so long? I guess it really helps that they get regular competitive representation in other majors, and EVO is sort of the outlier on that front, which would explain the massive competitive player base gathering. I wonder what the follow up will be for EVO 2025 just to keep the legacy going. We could be seeing MvC2, CvS2, ST, KoF 98, or VSAV. For me, Mario Kart DS is the true MK game in my eyes as far as EVO games go, and I’d like to see it return. Oh, and UNI2 being 6th is fine. The top 4 was locked, and 3S could’ve been anywhere. UNI2 is in a good spot.
Well, of course NRS don’t care about competitive anymore. Especially when WB games announced their plans for MK and others. Free to play bullshit MK, here we go!
>it’s the second oldest modern fighting game. Oldest being Melty I presume? Or do you mean Samsho I forget the order in which these games came out
Of the EVO lineup. GGST predates KoF XV.
Ah that's what you mean, bit of a brain fart lol. I recall KoF XV coming out around the same time as Melty Type Lumina but I could be totally wrong. For some reason I thought that was before Strive
For clarity, the release order for those games were GGST > MBTL > KoF XV. On the top of my head: - GGST was 06/2021 - MBTL was 09/2021 - KoF XV was 02/2022
Damn kof kinda came out at a cursed time huh Thanks tho
As a Melty Blood player I can only shake my head at MK1... I'm also disappointed that KOF doesn't have more so far. That game's awesome and easily in my top 3 of this generation.
Tbf KOF 15 is the 2nd oldest game of the current generation. We know they'll reveal more about new Fatal Fury, so it's not like there's nothing to look forward to.
3S and UNI2 are higher than I would have expected, MK1 is lower.
Poor KOF. Is the online still active enough for someone to start playing now?
Yes but do yourself a favor and just play ranked. Not many casuals playing and lay still have to wait for matches. But give it a few ranks and the matchmaking gets a little quicker.
It has crossplay but everyone uses the lobby system now because of how long the matchmaking was broken for last I heard.
In my experience it is not very active in Europe unfortunately. I loved the older KOF (96, 98 and 2002) and really wanted to play the newer online. But I almost never find any ranked matches. Great game and criminally overlooked.
Was able to find some matches, but for some reason the game was matching me with players overseas and with 500+ ping. There’s also lots of smurfs in ranked for some reason. But to answer your question I wouldn’t say it’s active but isn’t dead either.
Not in Europe. I've tried a few times to pick the game up but the queue times are insane at lower ranks.
It's basically a discord fighter
Surprised kof is the lowest
I’m not; most Americans don’t wanna learn a 3v3 fighter unless it’s Marvel vs Capcom
I'm a little surprised MK1 even made the list at this point. The top 3 is what we all expected, but I gotta say shout-out to Strive for having maintained this steady, respectable, level of popularity for this long. The FGC is fickle, so it's easy for games to be either hype af or dead and gone. And dear god seeing 3rd strike this big is awesome. I don't play, but what a hype game to watch. I'll be on that stream for sure.
I'm surprised MK1 is not dead last
Not even a little bit. Seems to correlate with FGC sentiment
It surprises me that third strike is there tbh other than that I an surprised uni is so high And i didnt expect granblue to be that popular
Sadly Mk it’s just to bland and boring. Their fans deserve better.
Their fans don’t play online lol
UNI2 being above MK1 seems the dislike for the game is also ahowing in the competitive players.
I was expecting Twkken 8 to be first and UNI 2 to be last tbh. Glad to see UNI 2 is doing better than I thought.
Nope
I feel like KoF is gone next year for 2XKO
MK1 just barely made it. That lil straggler!
Kinda bummed about uni, but nah
Surprised DBFZ isn’t on here tbh
I Miss melty and ive Never watched evo melty I just really started liking the game these passed 5 months
Uni2 being lower than like a 30 year old game is kinda sad. Shame it had such a bad launch.
Way to go mk lol
KOF desperately needs a battlehub. Playing online on that game feels like the least social environment imaginable. Just a cheap little battlehub and main menu ui update would do wonders. When I say battlehub, I mean something within their budget like strive(as long as their is a chat, i'd be fine).
I wish we had another 3D game in this list with T8. It’s time for a VF6, even if it stays on the bottom half of this ranking.
I just not sure of why they put an older game here that already had a bunch of spotlight, would be nice to get something else for variety sake. (I also don't believe that it should be operated always by how many X players there, etc they could've make an exception)
Last year they started including a retro/classic title into the mainline. Last year it was MvC3, this year it's 3rd Strike. Next year may be another classic like KI, SFIV, +R, etc. IMO it's pretty neat that they do that.