Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 has been added to the Evo 2017 lineup, after the game won the Evo 2017 Community Choice donation drive on Wednesday.
Marvel fans raised over $71,000 over a two-week span to earn the victory. All told, the campaign—contested by communities for nine different games—raised over $152,000 for Make-A-Wish International.
The win means that Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will be the ninth game added to the Evo 2017 roster. The game’s finals will be played on “Championship Sunday” in the 12,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas for a $10,000 prizepool.
Lead Evo organizer Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cuellar announced the game as the “unofficial” winner of the donation drive. Its place is expected to be made official in a few days after all of the donation payments are processed.
Once finalized, Marvel will join a roster of fighting games that already includes Street Fighter V, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for WiiU, Guilty Gear Xrd REV2, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, King of Fighters XIV, Injustice 2, and Tekken 7.
Marvel held off a hard challenge from fans of Pokken Tournament, as nearly $67,000 was raised on behalf of the Pokémon-based fighting game. Marvel held the lead for the majority of the contest, but Pokken edged ahead multiple times over the final two days of the campaign.
Several top Pokken players hosted a continuous series of streams over the final 24 hours of the drive, while Marvel legend Michael “IFC Yipes” Mendoza streamed in support of his game during the final hours of the campaign.
“You have no idea how much this Marvel vs Capcom thing means to me,” Yipes said on his stream shortly after the results were announced. “[Marvel] has changed my life. It got me off the streets […] It got me on airplanes to go places to show my passion.” Yipes later listed off and thanked most of the 1,487 people who donated to the cause.
Had Pokken prevailed, Evo 2017 would have been the first ever Evo to not feature a Marvel vs Capcom game. Marvel‘s history at Evo dates back to 2000, before the event was even called Evo.
Although Pokken came up short, Evo organizers pledged $10,000 of prize money for other Pokken events throughout 2017.
“No words can describe how proud I am of the Pokken community,” tweeted Allister Singh, one of the Pokken players who participated in the 24-hour stream. “What a beautiful thing we have done.”
Evo will take place the weekend of July 14 to 16. Registration is currently open for all games except for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.
