Virtua Fighter 5 REVO’s First Major Tournament Features $100K Prize Pool
Sign me up.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. launched exclusively on PC earlier this year, offering the definitive way to experience the most revered entry in the iconic 3D fighting game series. Now, during their dedicated direct, SEGA has confirmed that console players will finally get the same version soon.
Not only is Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. coming to consoles, but SEGA has also announced the first open tournament, featuring a grand prize of $100,000. To say Virtua Fighter is back would be an understatement.
VIRTUA FIGHTER Open Championship
The VIRTUA FIGHTER Open Championship kicks off on May 23, 2025, at Combo Breaker 2025 in Chicago with its first preliminary round. Additional rounds will follow in Europe, Japan, and Asia (excluding Japan). Players who win these preliminaries will earn a spot in the Grand Final Tournament, where the winner will take home $100,000.
You can learn more about the individual preliminary tournaments, including their venues and schedule, in the dedicated section of the Virtua Fighter official website. According to the site, 10 players will compete in the grand finals, with two of them qualifying during EVO 2025 in Las Vegas.
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. Consoles Release
Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. is coming to PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and the Nintendo Switch 2. A release date hasn’t been announced just yet, but I’m expecting it to launch later this year. The console release has full rollback netcode and crossplay support, which should help bring the numbers up for the PC release as well.
During the direct, we also got our first look at Wolf Hawkfield in the upcoming Virtua Fighter project. RGG has done a tremendous job of maintaining the series’ signature realism while respecting each character’s distinct martial arts identity.
It seemed for a while that only Tekken was the last remaining 3D fighter on the market, and series like Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive, and Soul Calibur had slowly faded into obscurity, but it’s nice to see SEGA put the time and effort into reviving their franchise that promises grounded combat and a focus on martial arts over flashy moves and anime finishers.
An active tournament scene means that top players from other fighting games will also give Virtua Fighter a fair shot, and I hope to see a resurgence in its popularity with the multiplatform release of Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. and the upcoming Virtua Fighter project.
