Robert Paul / EvoThe Evolution Championship Series (EVO) has been a landmark esports event on the calendar every year for the past few decades, evolving into one of the most widely-watched gaming tournaments on the planet.
Now in 2025, while the event itself returns in a big way, EVO is also adding another night of fun to the festivities. This year is set to debut the Evo Awards show, a celebration of the FGC and all that makes it great.
Hosts have teased the event will feature a number of announcements from Evo partners, perhaps indicating a few reveals from prolific fighting game devs. So if you’re eager to tune in, we’ve got you covered with all there is to know.
When were the 2025 EVO Awards?
The first-of-its-kind event was on Saturday, February 15, 2025. The show lasted for a few hours, going through several awards as well as new announcements for upcoming games and a Fatal Fury: CoTW exhibition match/
EvoHow to watch 2025 EVO Awards
The inaugural Evo Awards event is strictly invite-only, meaning fans couldn’t purchase tickets to attend. Only invited pro players, content creators, and the like were allowed access to the venue in Los Angeles.
The EVO awards have ended, but you can watch the full VoD on YouTube.
All EVO Award categories
There are 21 awards categories in total for this inaugural event, ranging from the expected, like player of the year, moment of the year, and best FGC local, all the way through to the more wacky awards like meme of the year, best pop off, and more.
Related
Who could forget Hayao’s hilarious moment at the Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike finals, or Punk’s emotional Street Fighter 6 win at Evo 2024? Now we finally have a place for these iconic moments to get the recognition they deserve.
The full list of awards is as follows:
Best Pop Off
- Hayao – EVO (Winner)
- Nitro – EVO
- NoahTheProdigy – The Mixup Lyon
- AK – Combo Breaker
- Punk – Street Fighter League
FGC Content of the Year
- Tekken 8 tutorials – PhiDX
- MVC2 Streams – Jwong
- Trash Talk Podcast – BrianF
- Will it Kill? – Sajam
- Sajam Slam (Winner)
FGC Meme of the Year
- The Wazzler
- Hand Heart & Thumbs Up
- Hayao does the splits
- Let’s go gambling
- Attacks IRL (Winner)
Comeback of the Year
- Hayao – EVO (Winner)
- Arslan Ash – Combo Breaker
- g_conceptz – Twitch Rivals
- SonicFox – EVO
- Yagami – Esports World Cup
Match of the Year Award
- Punk vs BigBird – EVO Grand Finals
- Hayao vs FrankieBFG – EVO (Winner)
- Nitro vs Tatuma – EVO Grand Finals
- Xiaohai vs Kusanagi – UFA Grand Finals
- Arslan Ash vs Atif – EVO Grand Finals
Best Commentator Duo
- IFCYipes and Sajam (Winner)
- Rip and Tasty Steve
- Tasty Steve and Sajam
- Justin Wong and IFCYipes
- Vicious and Justin Wong
Best Commentator Call
- This could be game – Jwong, EVO
- Arslan’s gonna do it – Rip, EVO
- EVO-losing anti-air – Sajam, EVO
- Break his guard – IFCYipes, Twitch Rivals
- Worthless button – Jwong, EVO (Winner)
Best Custom Hardware
- Snack Box Micro
- C.O.M.B.O Extension Buttons
- Mpress Nano
- Custom Claiomh Solais Arcade Stick
- Haute42 Pad T-series (Winner)
Best FGC Cosplay
- MsValentine – Lord Beerus, DBFZ
- Chiba Josui – Blanka, SF6
- Chonibu – Kimberly, SF6 (Winner)
- Onesaya – Bridget, GG Strive
- Kryryane – Lily, SF6
Best Dressed
- Tasty Steve (Winner)
- Logan Sama
- Vicious
- RobTV
- IFCYipes
Best Button of the Year
- Dragunov Ignition Switch – Tekken 8
- Luke Crouching Medium Punch – SF6
- Dash Light Attack – GBVS: Rising
- Johnny Cage F3 – MK1
- Ken Crouching Medium Kick – SF6 (Winner)
Tech of the Year
- Sworl Arcade Controller
- Pro KO Leverless (Winner)
- Hit Box Ultra
- Sapphire Leverless
- Lvl Controller
Marketing Campaign of the Year
- Fatal Fury: CoTW – Christiano Ronaldo
- 2XKO – Riot Games
- EVO, SF6, Tekken 8 – Chiptole (Winner)
- SF6 Season 2 – Capcom
- ECT Commercial – Hitbox
Fighting Game Release of the Year
- SF6 Season 2 DLC – Capcom
- MvC Fighting Collection – Capcom
- UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes – French Bread
- Rivals of Aether 2 – Offbrand Games
- Tekken 8 – Bandai Namco (Winner)
They’ve Got Next (Best Up and Coming Players)
- EnzoTheHokage
- Booce
- NoahTheProdigy (Winner)
- KingReyJr
- Blaz
Best FGC Local
- Tatakai Tuesday – Tokyo, Japan (Tatakai Tuesday)
- NLBC – Brooklyn, USA
- Abou Dojo – Paris, France
- Okizeme – Vancouver, Canada
- FGC Meetups – Skokie, USA
Best Online Series
- Casabunch – USA
- Saltmine League – UK
- TNS Online – USA (Winner)
- The Kolosseum – USA
- Can Opener – USA
Invitational of the Year
- Red Bull Kumite
- Sajam Tekken Slam (Winner)
- Crazy Raccoon Cup
- Red Bull Golden Letters
- Topanga Championship 5
Content Creator of the Year
- Justin Wong
- Sajam (Winner)
- BrianF
- Broski
- Diaphone
Commentator of the Year
- Tasty Steve
- Sajam
- IFCYipes (Winner)
- Ringe
- Vicious
Player of the Year
- Punk (Winner)
- Arslan Ash
- MenaRD
- Nitro
- Xiaohai
Moment of the Year
- Punk wins SF6 – EVO 2024
- Hayao – Moment 38 (Winner)
- Xiaohai wins SF6 – Esports World Cup
- LilyPichu vs Harada – EVO Showcase
- MenaRD wins SF6 – EVO Japan
EVO Hall of Fame 2025 inductees
The EVO Awards saw three key members of the FGC get inducted into the Hall of Fame, forever being cemented as people who defined what the FGC is today. They are:
- Alex Valle
- Tokido
- John Choi
All announcements at the Evo Awards
The Evo Awards are slated to feature a few big fighting game announcements from major publishers like Arc System Works, Capcom and more, which we’ve listed below:
Ogre gets release date in UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes
Ogre’s release date has been confirmed for UNI 2: He’ll be available for purchase on February 20, 2025.
GranBlue Fantasy VS Rising Character Pass 2
Sandalphon, Galleon, Wilnas, Meg, and Ilsa have been confirmed for GBVS: Rising’s second character pass, giving players another 5 new characters to look forward to over the course of the year.
Hunter x Hunter Nen Impact gets Nephelpito as its first DLC character
Despite not releasing until July 17, 2025, the first DLC character for Season Pass 1 has been confirmed.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves announcements
Several big announcements for CoTW landed at the EVO Awards, with Kain R. Heinlein getting confirmed for the game’s launch roster.
Additionally, they announced City of the Wolves’ very first Season Pass roster: Andy Bogard, Ken from SF, Joe Higashi, Chun Li, and Mr. Big.
That’s everything you need to know about the first annual EVO awards!