The coronavirus pandemic forced organizers of the annual Evo fighting game event to cancel their 2020 event, but now they’ve announced details of an online version. According to a video they posted, the event will include five weekends of fighting game action running through the month of July. While that will include “special exhibitions and content” for the original tournament lineup, going online will also make it more interactive for fighting game fans.

That’s because the new schedule includes four open tournaments. Players can go head-to-head in Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath, Killer Instinct, Them’s Fightin Herds and Skullgirls 2nd Encore. Signup and event info is “coming soon,” and the action gets started on July 4th.

Cannon referred to Riot’s upcoming fighting game as “the worst-kept secret” in the universe. He said during the EVO livestream, “Back in 2016 when we joined forces with Riot I said that we were going to go in the hole for a while. I want to be able to let people in on maybe the worst kept secret in the universe which is that I can confirm we are working on a fighting game for Riot.”

Riot acquired Radiant Entertainment in 2016, a studio formed by Cannon and his twin brother that was behind the online fighting game Rising Thunder. Radiant is staffed by many prominent figures in the fighting game community, and many expected Riot’s next title to be a fighting game.

While Cannon didn’t reveal any further details about the game, he did mention that it would strive to have broad appeal. “So, the reason why we did Rising Thunder in the first place is that we felt that fighting games needed to be enjoyed by way more people. Like as big as things are, we think it has the potential to get bigger,” said Cannon.

Watch Evo 2019 – Day 1! from evo on www.twitch.tv