Evolution is arguably the most prestigious fighting-game competition in the world, and it has been growing by leaps and bounds in the last few years. How big is it now?

Evo took off like a rocket in 2009, where we had over 3000 attendees and over 1600 competitors across all our tournaments. We shattered those records in 2010 with over 4000 attendees and over 3000 tournament competitors. I think at this point we're one of the largest face-to-face tournaments in the world. We're certainly the largest fighting game tournament out there.

We believe strongly in open tournaments, which is why we have never instituted a player cap at any of our events. You don't have to win a qualifier or place in an online ladder to play in our world championship. Anyone can pay their entry fee and get their shot at the best players from around the world. If 10,000 people show up in 2011 (which is not an outrageous number when you think about both Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat 9 dropping early in 2011), we will find a way to accommodate those players.

Is Capcom involved at all with encouraging Evo's growth and development? Has your relationship with Capcom changed over the years?

Over the past few years, Capcom has sort of fallen back in love with Street Fighter, and they've been very supportive of competitions like Evo. In the early 2000s there was a dark period where it was hard to get Capcom to take notice of the great events happening all over the country, but thankfully those days are gone.