The Killer Instinct World Cup qualifiying events were announced today, and one event was noticeably absent from the list.
The among the list of events, that includes Community Effort Orlando, Texas Showdown and the spiritual successor to the Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament, Combo Breaker, the Evolution Championship Series was not included. When asked by twitter users, Brandon Alexander of Ultra Arcade had the following to say:
@Roosterdrill01 not my decision. I reached out to them and they respectively declined on being apart of KIWC.
— UA|Brandon Alexander (@XboxViking) April 5, 2016
Alexander also noted that Evo was unofficially sanctioned as a KIWC qualifier last year, and that he would be unable to sanction them on an unofficial basis for the 2017 event.
Here are the list of qualifiers for the Killer Instinct World Cup:
1) Texas Showdown (4/22-24, Houston, Texas)
2) Northwest Majors (4/29-5/1, Des Moines, Washington)
3) Combo Breaker 2016 (5/27-29, St. Charles, Illinois)
4) CEO (Community Effort Orlando, 6/24-26, Orlando Florida)
5) Kombo Klash (8/6-7, San Antonio, Texas)
6) Absolute Battle (8/26-28, Dallas, TX)
7) Heart of Battle (12/2-4, Houston, Texas)
8) Kumite In Tennessee (1/6-8/2017 and location TBA)
9) Kombo Klash Netherlands (Date and location TBA)
10) Kombo Klash France (Date and location TBA)
11) Kombo Klash Canada (Date and location TBA)
12) Kombo Klash Community Choice (Date and location TBA)
In addition, the weekly 8-Bit Beatdown online Killer Instinct tournaments as well as the Killer Instinct Pro League, which is free to enter for Xbox One and Windows 10 participants. In addition, Top 32 Ranked online players will be awarded KIWC points to determine their spot in the 2017 event.