EVO may be in hot water after what was meant to be a joke got the wrong attention. During the finals of Tekken 7 at EVO 2019, in-house attendees saw a video featuring Metal Gear’s Solid Snake. In it, Snake spoke to Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada saying “That was some Good Ass Tekken.”
However, the EVO video had many believing that Snake would join Tekken’s cast of playable characters. After all, the Tekken games have featured guest characters from other games before. In addition, Solid Snake himself has experience as a third-party character in a fighting game via Super Smash Bros.
Confusion about this Snake video’s meaning was amplified by the fact that actual Tekken news was shared at EVO 2019. Harada announced season three of downloadable content, including two characters, Zafina and Leeroy Smith.
The official EVO Twitter page had to clarify that they did not mean for the video to be a teaser for upcoming content. It was a joke and nothing more. Harada reiterated EVO’s apology in Japanese in his own tweet.
Just to clear things up, the Snake cameo video that we showed during Tekken finals was our idea of a little joke. It was not intended to imply a character reveal, and was done on our own, without consulting Bandai Namco. Sorry for any confusion!
— EVO (@EVO) August 5, 2019
EVO’s Snake in Tekken controversy
EVO’s joke video with Tekken and Snake, though clearly misunderstood, might not have been too harmful on its own. However, as EVO’s official statement mentioned, the organization made and aired the video without Bandai Namco’s approval. In addition, Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter went to Twitter to say that no one consulted him or Konami either.
EVO,
You also failed to consult me, or Konami. Please do not use my voice to promote other games. Ever.
— David Hayter (@DavidBHayter) August 5, 2019
Hayter condemned EVO for using his voice without getting permission from him or Konami. He also implored EVO not to use his voice for the promotion of a game besides Metal Gear.
Despite Hayter’s serious tone, it does not seem that he’ll pursue legal action because of EVO’s Snake and Tekken crossover joke. EVO may get by with just a harsh warning this time around. However, the organization will likely not make the same mistake again.
