Attendees at Evo 2022 are not allowed to play friendlies on the MultiVersus setups, Evo spectator and Riot Games employee Greg Adler said in a tweet on Friday. Adler shared a photo depicting multiple empty setups, which the tournament organizers were reportedly reserving for bracket matches.
“Just talked to a @MVSGaming TO and they said nobody is allowed to play friendlies at all the entire weekend unless you’re in bracket,” Adler tweeted. “Pretty disappointed, there are so many open setups and people just want to play. Feels like a missed opportunity to [activate] the community here.”
https://twitter.com/RiotGurg7/status/1555614847282188288
Luis “Lui$” Oceguera Ramos — a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pro who entered the MultiVersus bracket with fellow Ultimate player Alex “Vermillion” Vo — confirmed that the prohibition on friendlies applies even to players who have registered for the Evo MultiVersus bracket.
“Came 2 hours early to warm up just to find out warming up doesn’t exist due to their million open setups not allowing friendlies,” Lui$ tweeted. “Really hope this changes throughout the day because that’s just unfair.”
More about the lack of MultiVersus friendlies at Evo
Evo 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, is hosting the first offline Multiversus major. Although it isn’t technically part of the core nine-game line-up, MultiVersus is receiving greater attention than other Evo side brackets. It is the only game outside of the main roster to appear on this year’s official Evo schedule.
As a result, MultiVersus’ debut competitive experience is in an environment where it will get a good deal of exposure from the broader fighting game community. However, multiple MultiVersus community members have criticized the decision to disallow friendlies at Evo. Some have argued it could prevent new players from trying out the game.
In particular, Super Smash Bros. Melee pro Juan “Hungrybox” DeBiedma called for the TOs to reverse the decision. Earlier this week, Hungrybox hosted an online MultiVersus tournament with more than 1,000 entrants and a $2,000 prize pool.
Heard spectators aren’t allowed to play MultiVersus friendlies at EVO
That many open setups with no one on them 💀
Hopefully the @MVSGaming team reverses this https://t.co/LvqT6VKFp2
— hungrybox (@LiquidHbox) August 5, 2022
