Guilty Gear Strive's final entrant numbers for Evo 2021 Online are more than the second and third highest games combined
Curious how this would have looked during a more regular year
After not holding an event for the first time in over 20 years in 2020, the Evolution Championship Series will soon be returning with a very different look this time around.
Now that registration has finally closed for Evo 2021 Online, AceKingOffsuit has compiled the entry numbers for what appears to be the largest online fighting game event ever while boasting strong participation around the globe.
Combining together the numbers from each region, Guilty Gear Strive is far and away the most popular of the mainstage titles with 3,456 players signed up to compete in total.
That figure is more than the number two and three most-entered games combined being Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition with 1,854 entrants and Tekken 7 with 1,522 players signed up.
Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate still pulled in 714 players despite not having brackets in the Asia region, and Skullgirls 2nd Encore wraps up the bunch with 541.
If we were to count Strive as a single event, it would be the third-most entered tournament in Evo's history behind Street Fighter 5's record-breaking 5,065 players in 2016 and just shy of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's 3,492 in 2019 — though it's technically split among four different brackets.
Evo 2021 entrant numbers across all regions, per Evo's SmashGG page#GuiltyGearStrive - 3456#SFV - 1854#TEKKEN7 - 1522#MK11 - 714 (no tourney in Asia region)#PlaySkullgirls - 541
— AceKingOffsuit ♠️❤️ (@acekingoffsuit) July 28, 2021
Total players across all regions: 6652#Evo #Evo2021
The North American tournament alone, however, has 2,261 entrants, which certainly makes it the most entered Guilty Gear tournament in Evo history and maybe the largest tournament the series has ever seen.
Guilty Gear's previous record for Evo appears to come from 2015 when 958 people showed up to compete in Revelator.
Unsurprisingly, Street Fighter 5's largest single bracket is NA East with 410 players while number two and three are NA West and Asia East respectively.
Although it kinda stinks that we won't get to see the best of the best in the world face off at Evo 2021 Online, we will get the chance to see that in November with the Evo 2021 Showcase bringing together the top placers from each region and event with a prize pool of $125,000.
Evo 2021 Online will be taking place across two weekends from August 6–8 and 13–15 where it looks like we'll be in for quite some action.
