Virtua Fighter made it to the stage and stream of Evo 2018, and it was a community driven effort.

With an outstanding turnout, great matches on display and a great collaboration the event is something to be proud of for all involved and proof that the Virtua Fighter community can make great things happen.

Congratulations to the top four for the tournament:

1. Homestay Akira
2. AdamYUKI (@adamYUKI)
   
3. Gentleman Thief (@Lucky_GT)
4. CIDKID (@CIDKID)

Full results and brackets here.
VFDC League event page here.

Check out highlights of the tournament right here, thanks to VFDC's own @Myke


You can catch the full Top 4 for the tournament here:


Pool play is currently being edited for YouTube upload by Escaping Workforce, but for now the archives are available here:
https://www.twitch.tv/escapingworkforce/videos/all

We hope the success of this event inspires more Virtua Fighter action at locals, monthlies and majors around the world! But Virtua Fighter returning to Evo was never a guaranteed deal, and only came to be thanks to the community's dedication...

It all began with Mr Wizard, the self-proclaimed 'Head Honcho for Evo' making this announcement;



After VFDC user Blackstar caught wind of this, some discussion for the tournament was begun, and that's where this thread was created:
https://virtuafighter.com/threads/vf5fs-side-tourney-evo-2018.20957

Kori Maru (@Kori_Maru) , who would become one of the tournament organisers (TO) for the event, commented;

The discussion continued.

With Jason Elbow (@Jason Elbow) and Kori Maru both volunteering, the planning could begin. The tournament, however, was still missing experienced tournament organisers for running the brackets. After putting the call out for help, the team was eventually met with an answer from the man behind Escaping Workforce.

Escaping Workforce is a twitch (twitch.tv/escapingworkforce) and YouTube Channel that has run countless FGC programs, including online Virtua Fighter tournaments in the past. After reaching out to the team via the Virta Revival Discord, we had a man on the ground who could lend his experience and his stream to the event!

The word spread quickly among the Virtua Fighter community and among Evo attendees, and before long the team had to start considering capping the attendance to ensure the tournament could be run on time with the staff that was available. The decision was made to cap the tournament at 40 entrants, which was quickly hit after the announcement.

While there were a lot of requests to increase the player cap to 64, we knew it couldn't realistically be done without some more help. Enter: DropKick events. Montage and Phoxx of the Dropkick Events team in SoCal came forth with a game-changer. Not only did the team increase by two experienced and VF-loving tournament organisers, but they also set up a Matcherino page to raise pot bonuses. With this, the cap was raised to 64, and by the day of the tournament over $400 had been raised as a pot bonus for the top 3.

Dropkick's Montage said:

With huge names from around the USA, Canada, Japan and all around the world entering the tournament, the stage was set for an amazing showdown at the biggest Fighting Game Tournament in the world.

The team and community all came together to deliver a fantastic tournament. Kori Mari remembers:

Dropkick's Montage had fond memories of organising the tournament with a dedicated group of people from around the world and the stunning tournament play;

The community stuck together playing many hours of casuals after the tournament too, check out Cobratron's YouTube Channel for all the videos of casuals;



The success of Virtua Fighter at Evo was immediately preceded by a successful tournament at CEO (Community Effort Orlando), and will be immediately succeeded by another gathering of VF players, the legendary New York Gathering on August 25.

Tournaments for Virtua Fighter still take place all around the world, and there's no end in sight. I do hope that this spirit is kept up and more Virtua Fighter events are supported for the year's to come. Whether it's online, locals, monthlies or majors, there will always be room for Virtua Fighter in the FGC.

Support the game and keep loving Virtua Fighter!

To everyone who participated, watched or even found out about the tournament after the fact, please do give us all your thoughts and comments below! We'd love to hear from you!