We’ll start this article by tackling a serious topic. The competitive fighting game community has simply imploded following a series of accusations regarding sexual misconduct ranging from players to organizers. As a product of all of this, EVO Online has been officially cancelled after each title withdrew from the competition.
This is a massive blow to the community – in the following list, find the list of all of the accusations for context:
- EVO President and Co-Founder Joey ‘MrWizard’ Cuellar accused of being a predator towards minors, and sexual misconduct – has since been fired
- Super Smash Bros. (SSB) player Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada accused of statutory rape
- SSB player Richard “Keitaro” King accused of statutory rape – has apologized since
- SSB player Cinnamon “Cinnpie” Dunson accused of statutory rape
- SSB player D’Ron “D1” Maingrette accused of rape
It’s honestly quite shocking. The irony is, that after EVO 2019 last year, the community had a similar influx of sexual allegations across all titles. It’s all a domino effect – once one person has the determination to accuse, this enables others to do so too.
Top competitors such as SonicFox and Sajam have taken stances in supporting the decision to cancel EVO Online and have called for further action. Resolutions should appear within the next few weeks, while the accused have either apologized or remained silent for now.
It’s a tough time for the fighting game community right now. No information has revealed whether EVO Online will be held at a later date or not.
