Why King of Fighters 13 isn't coming back to Evo

Evo, the premiere western fighting game tournament, has dropped support for a few previously favoured titles.

King of Fighters 13 had a loyal following, but isn't featured in the Evo 2015 line-up.

"Many things go into what games makes it to Evo, but the most obvious one is, 'Is the community playing this game?'" Evo organiser Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar told Shoryuken.

"A prime example of this is King of Fighters. After last year’s Evo, the game just stopped being played. Even in SoCal (Arguably the home of KOF in the United States), no one was playing this game. Even though it’s still a good game, the interest died out."

Interestingly, Cuellar said that Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax were included partially because BlazBlue was a big deal at Evo 2014 - but that the most recent BlazBlue update put fans off it, which is why it itself was not chosen.

The full article has some more discussion on how and why games are selected for Evo, but Cuellar ended the interview with an exhortation for fans to show support for their favourite titles if they want to see them included

"Show up to tournaments year round. Just because you have a big side tournament at Evo, don’t expect a free pass into Evo next year," he warned.

"Players need to be excited and playing the game year round for consideration into Evo. Keeping up with your local scene and supporting it there will go a long way into showing support for your favorite game."

Thanks, Siliconera.