Arab News | How Qiddiya-owned Evo plans to grow the fighting game community worldwide

RIYADH: “Evo is really a lifestyle,” said RTS Executive Chairman Steven Roberts at Evo France 2026. “We celebrate the lifestyle of the fighting game community and we will continue to do that well into the future.”

The Evolution Championship Series — Evo for short — completed its third flagship event of the year in Nice, France, bringing a stellar year to a close that began with Qiddiya Investment Co.’s acquisition of the series in February through its gaming talent management and brand consultancy arm, RTS.

Roberts, who worked with the Esports World Cup during his time at Sony, brings years of experience working directly with the Saudi gaming industry.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a group of harder-working people than the folks at the EWC and Qiddiya,” he told Arab News. “They’re young, they’re passionate — and it’s not just from the gaming perspective.

“The Qiddiya project is such a broad and expansive one, covering so many areas, and I find the work and passion behind it so energizing,” he added. “To see such a young community — on the scale of the millions of young people in Saudi Arabia who consider themselves gamers of many kinds — is something very different from many other countries and cultures.”

Founded more than 20 years ago, Evo has grown from a grassroots tournament into the world’s largest fighting game event — and Roberts believes this is merely the start of a journey toward further expansion.

“One of our key initiatives in the years ahead — not just in Saudi Arabia, but around the world — is to invest in local ecosystems,” he explained. “Because it is that local ecosystem that has to be sustainable to ensure continued growth, participation and the engagement that can support an Evo-style event.

“It’s not just about the professionals — an Evo-style event traditionally involves many grassroots participants. From the tournament organizers to the referees and amateur entrants, we are committed to making sure that the local ecosystem is healthy, vibrant and positioned to grow.”

While Evo has yet to host a flagship event in Saudi Arabia, a “Road to Evo France” event took place on Sept. 10 and 11 at the SEF Arena in Riyadh.

At Evo France itself, Saudi players saw a host of excellent performances — with Team Falcons’ Farzeen and Numan Ch finishing in the top eight of “Tekken 8” alongside Twisted Minds’ Hafiz Tanveer. Falcons had three top-eight finishers in “Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves” — AbuOmar in seventh/eighth, Kindevu in fifth/sixth and Xiaohai in third place.

“Road to Evo was the starting point. We aim to build on that until we reach the scale needed to be sustainable for an event as big as Evo Japan or Evo France — and that’s something we plan on doing in Saudi Arabia too,” Roberts explained.

“We have announced an expansion into many countries, where specific dates and times will be released over the next few months, because one of our objectives is to make Evo more accessible to people around the world,” he said.

“The events around the world will not all necessarily be at the same scale as some of the biggest events, but they will capture the same feeling and essence of what the fighting game community is all about.”

While Evo continues to expand on a macro scale, it ultimately returns to being about community at its core. Roberts believes that is key to building the kind of big events synonymous with Evo today.

“I think, when a fan enters an Evo event — of any kind — there are certain things that they should expect,” he said. “The first is certainly the feeling of inclusion — that they can go anywhere at the event and feel part of the community.

“I also would like for them to get a sense of the history of the Evo brand and exactly what it stands for.

“I want it to be the case that, when you go through the door of any Evo event, you feel at home. And that’s the kind of thing we plan on bringing around the world,” he said.