Mortal Kombat 1 will officially return for a second year at the Evo World Championship in Las Vegas! The most recent installment in the famed fighting franchise was the seventh featured title announced for the 2025 Evo event, which will take place later this year. Read on for more details:
Mortal Kombat's return to the major tournament was reportedly spoiled five days early by an accidental posting to YouTube, but never the less comes with some surprise, after the game was notably omitted from October's inaugural European Evo Championship in Nice, per a late 2024 announcement.
Headliners from the perennial franchises, Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8, led the charge, with Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Guilty Gear Strive, and Under Night In-Birth II Sis: Celes maintaining their presence. March's highly anticipated SNK revival, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, also confirmed its debut, maintaining the status quo of last year's field.
Despite recording an increase from 2024 Evo sign-ups, Mortal Kombat 1's beleaguered status was broadly viewed as a reversal of fortune for the NetherRealm Studios series, which has been a mainstay since earning a place with 2011's Mortal Kombat reboot. The series almost missed out in 2020 before the event was ultimately cancelled.
The game's position as seventh title announced during the live presentation reflects player turnout at last year's tournament, where the new release game struggled to attract a robust field of players, outpaced by popular cult series Guilty Gear & GranBlue, and 1999 competitive favourite - Street Fighter III: Third Strike. This year it will be Marvel vs Capcom 2 appearing as the assigned "Throwback Game" in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary.
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The 2025 Evo World Championship will take place over the weekend of August 1st-3rd at the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hill. For sign-up details visit Evo.gg. Will you board the Nethership to this year's tournament? Share your experience with us in the comments below and on Discord. Find more in the Mortal Kombat 1 category.
