Not to mention that MK11 had 1,567 entrants at Evo last year, while SC6 had only 742.
So, it's not like people aren't wanting to play MK11 at Evo, and (IIRC) MK11 is still listed for Combo Breaker this year.
Definitely smells of some political shit going on between NRS and Evo.
Exactly. MK11 had only 1.567 entrants. Compared to other major titles.
I really doubt it is political issue. There were no issues last year. SC6 and Samurai Shodown are anything, but politically correct and yet here they are.
The only reason why Dead or Alive 6 didn't make it, is because devs themselves made a big issue out of nothing. They tried to play SJW and core players at the same time and lost everything. SC6 literally has even more revealing outfits and didn't get booted, cause they sell a fighting game not a political statement.
What I think is that WB/NRS just doesn't know how to run a fighting game. They sell their game big and want a top game treatment, but the reality is that it ONLY managed to get 1.5k people, and that was last year. NRS FGC is a dwarf compared to other top fighting games and it sure as hell didn't grown over the last year.
Judging by everything that was revealed over the days since EVO2020 announcement, is that WB/NRS acts like a high maintenance celebrity. They count how many copies their sold, not how many people are playing. They don't manage their community, aside big stars. They probably have the shittiest E-Sports management in fighting game industry. WB most likely wanted special treatment and probably push some commercials, basically making EVO into Video Game Awards 2.0 (like Nicholaidas mentioned), but the game isn't even Top 3 in EVO. So EVO wasn't having it, and because game doesn't even bring actual numbers to justify the maintenance, they just said screw it.
EVO is special, as it is a World Championship. It has the biggest brand out of tournaments, so obviously WB/NRS wanted to show off. But what is there to show off? Guest characters? How shitty you are, that you can't manage to sell your OWN characters. Or boring ass gameplay?
That article that was posted recently, was amusing as hell to read, just because the writer first tried to sell MK11 numbers as impressive and immediately destroyed that image by bringing SF/Tekken into the picture.
I do agree, that there are multiple reasons of why MK11 didn't come to EVO. But I really doubt it, it is political. If the game brought in 2-3k players, nobody would give two shits about politics. You could have half naked girls or guys jumping around and getting torn apart. If the game brings people in, then nobody cares.
Hell that Chaturbate bot story, that recently was making rounds on Twitter/Youtube, proves it.
MK11 is just overflowing with EGO, yet has absolutely nothing to show. So why bother with them. They are like old stars, that still think they are hot shit, and demand red carpet treatment.