Competitive spirit is the lifeblood of the fighting game community. Unfortunately, this year we have seen a few incidents where players intentionally underperformed, usually in the final matches of a tournament. This behavior is unacceptable, and it must end. To guarantee the integrity of future tournaments, major tournament directors have come together to standardize Evo’s rule regarding player collusion: Collusion of any kind with your competitors is considered cheating. If the Tournament Director determines that any competitor is colluding to manipulate the results or intentionally underperforming, the collaborating players may be immediately disqualified. This determination is to be made at the sole discretion of the Tournament Director. Anyone disqualified in this manner forfeits all rights to any titles or prizes they might have otherwise earned for that tournament.

As of this writing, the following tournaments have agreed to institute this rule:

Evolution Championship Series (Includes all Road to Evo events)

Big E Gaming Events (Northeast Championships, Summer Jam, and Winter Brawl)

Canada Cup Gaming (Canada Cup, April Duels)

Community Effort Orlando

Civil War

East Coast Throwdown

The Fall Classic

Final Round

Level|Up Events (SoCal Regionals, Wednesday Night Fights, and The Runback)

MTLSF Events

Northwest Majors

Shadowloo Showdown

NorCal Regionals

Toronto Top Tiers (TORYUKEN, Canadian East Coast Championships)

Treta Championship

Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament

Armshouse Furthermore, Shoryuken and EventHubs have agreed to only cover events that include this rule and enforce it at their tournament. To receive coverage of any kind, the tournament organizers must post official rules for their event, including the rule above.

Mad Catz, one of the most stalwart supporters of the fighting game community, has expressed its support for the rule.

Mad Catz proudly supports the fighting game community, and we want to take a serious stand when it comes to supporting not only players, events, but the overall community. Out of respect to all the other sponsors/event organizers that put their time and resources into creating amazing events, we want to make sure that everything is done to maintain the integrity and respect of those events. Mad Catz is in full support of a standard set of rules to preserve the legitimacy of each event, and going forward will only support events that institute such rules.

Tournament organizers, if you want to be included in this coalition, simply enforce this rule at your events and make sure it’s stipulated under your event’s rules.

(images courtesy of Kara Leung)