Evo passes fully to Qiddiya-owned RTS as NODWIN sells its stake

The Evolution Championship Series, the fighting game tournament known everywhere as Evo, now has a single owner. NODWIN Gaming, the India-based esports and festival company, has sold its stake in Evo to RTS, the company that produces the event, The Esports Advocate reported on February 19, 2026. RTS is itself owned by Qiddiya City, the Saudi mega-city project, so the deal leaves Evo entirely in the hands of a Qiddiya company.

No price was given, and neither party disclosed what share of Evo NODWIN had held. Four days later, on Monday, February 23, Evo published a long statement of its own, titled Beginning The Next Evolution. It promised that its existing events would not change, announced new countries from 2027 and set out a new championship played across several fighting games.

What changed hands

The transaction is simple to describe and short on numbers. RTS bought the equity NODWIN held in Evo, and with it Evo became, in The Esports Advocate's words, fully owned by RTS. The price was not publicly disclosed. The story was first reported by Shacknews, a video game news site, before The Esports Advocate published its own account.

NODWIN does not leave the event altogether. The company said it will keep supporting Evo through marketing, according to The Esports Advocate.

The ownership chart has three levels. Evo is held by RTS, the tournament organizer that runs it day to day. RTS is held by Qiddiya. And Qiddiya is a project backed by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.

How the ownership moved since 2021

The February sale closes a sequence of moves that began in 2021 and sped up over the last six months. Sony Interactive Entertainment, the PlayStation company, acquired Evo alongside RTS in 2021, Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president and head of global partner development and relations at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said in August 2025. Rosenberg said then that Evo's momentum had never been stronger, pointing to a successful event in Las Vegas and an expansion into new regions. Three transactions since then have changed who holds Evo or the company that produces it.

In August 2025, Sony sold its stake in Evo to NODWIN for an amount that was not disclosed, The Esports Advocate reported on August 21, 2025. Sony did not walk away: it became a global sponsor of Evo through 2028. The same announcement carried new multi-year partnerships with Qiddiya, Sony and RTS, then an existing shareholder, without details, and Qiddiya said it had invested an undisclosed amount in RTS.

Stuart Saw, the chief executive of RTS, welcomed Qiddiya's arrival at the time, saying the partnership strengthened the future of RTS and of its work on Evo.

Less than two weeks later, on September 2, 2025, The Esports Advocate reported that Qiddiya had taken full ownership of RTS. The news was first made public by Muhannad Aldawood, Qiddiya's chief strategy officer, in a post on LinkedIn, and the financial terms were not disclosed. The magazine added that it was unclear whether Qiddiya had already completed the full transaction when its investment in RTS was first reported in August. Aldawood called the acquisition a strategic step for Qiddiya's esports business and said it would let the company keep driving the growth of Evo, which he described as the world's largest fighting game event since 1996.

From that point Evo had two owners: RTS, now a Qiddiya company, and NODWIN. The February sale removes the second.

Who NODWIN and Qiddiya are

NODWIN Gaming was described by The Esports Advocate in August 2025 as a leading competitive tournament and gaming festival company in South Asia, and its reach goes well beyond fighting games. When it bought Sony's Evo stake, The Esports Advocate named, among its other acquisitions, AFK Gaming, Ninja Global FZCO, Freaks 4U Gaming, Branded, Comic Con India, StarLadder and Trinity Gaming. NODWIN opened an office in the United States in 2025 and signed a partnership with the Esports World Cup Foundation that July, the magazine added. In September, The Esports Advocate reported that Qiddiya and NODWIN had both opened offices in New York City that year, to do business with North American companies.

For NODWIN, the Evo stake was a short holding: bought in August 2025, sold in February 2026. The company had not commented on the sale when The Esports Advocate published its report, and no reason for it has been given.

Qiddiya is a Saudi mega-city project built around entertainment. The Esports Advocate describes a project meant to attract game developers, esports organizations, tournament organizers and technology companies, with theme parks, race tracks, golf courses, sports and esports venues, concert halls, hotels and restaurants among its planned attractions.

Evo's answer to its community

Evo's statement of February 23 was addressed to players. It refers to its latest acquisition announcement without naming the parties, and calls the fighting game community the root of competitive fighting games.

Evo described its community as the backbone of its events and said it had always put that community first. The first commitment concerns the events that already exist. Evo said its legacy events in the United States, Japan and France, and its announced event in Singapore, would not change in their policies, brand values, investment level, format or expectations. The stated aim is to bring those experiences to more players around the world.

The second concerns the grassroots of the scene. Starting later in 2026, Evo said it would invest in local event organizers around the world, helping them with problems such as a lack of equipment, a lack of awareness and the difficulty of connecting players. Evo said more details would be shared with local organizers and the community over the coming months.

"We are making it our mission to ensure fighting game events are available for generations of players," Evo wrote.

The statement also listed increased prize pools and new event formats among its long-term commitments, without figures.

A world championship across several games

The most concrete new project is a competition Evo has never run. Evo announced a Fighting Game World Championship, played across several fighting games rather than one.

Evo said the games would be chosen with their publishers and with the community, mixing modern and legacy titles, and that the selection would favor competitive games over entertainment ones. The championship will be held in the United States or Japan, and more information is due later in 2026.

From 2027, Evo also plans new events in five countries: Brazil, Morocco, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and China. No cities or dates were given.

The plan builds on an expansion already under way before the sale. The table brings together the calendar the organizer had published and the projects of the February statement.

Sheep Esports described Evo's model at the time as three events a year. Singapore had first been planned for 2026 and was pushed back to early 2027, the same report of August 2025 said, when the organizer confirmed that Evo Nice would return in 2026 before its first edition had even been played.

What the buyer now fully owns

The organizer's flagship event in Las Vegas drew nearly 8,500 registered players in 2025, according to Sheep Esports. Three games carried most of the entries.

The European branch started on a strong footing too. The first Evo Nice was held on October 10 to 12, 2025, with players of more than 50 nationalities expected according to Evo's French branch, and its Tekken 8 tournament passed 700 registrants, which Sheep Esports described as a new European record for the game.

Those events are now held, from top to bottom, by a single group.

What comes next

The next fixed dates on Evo's calendar are Evo Japan in Tokyo, on May 1 to 3, 2026, and Evo Las Vegas, on June 26 to 28. They will be the first editions held under sole RTS ownership.

Two announcements are promised for later in 2026: the details of the community program for local organizers, and the games, format and host country of the Fighting Game World Championship. The new events in Brazil, Morocco, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and China are set for 2027 onward, with details to come.

Sony's sponsorship runs through 2028 under the terms announced in August 2025, and NODWIN keeps a marketing role. Neither the price of the February deal nor the value placed on Evo has been made public.

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