EVO Scholar

The NYU Game Center is proud to announce that Christian Sutton is the recipient of the 2015 Evo Scholarship. Now in its third year, The Evo Scholarship provides financial assistance to study game design at New York University. The scholarship is awarded to an applicant who best demonstrates an active participation in the fighting game community, an interest in game design with a focus on innovating in the field of competitive games, and a legitimate financial need.

The scholarship is funded by the fighting game community, the Evolution Championship Series (Evo), and Twitch. Spectators watching the Evo tournament online fund the scholarship by upgrading their viewing experience, 100% of those proceeds are generously donated by Evo and Twitch to the Evo Scholarship.

“We’re excited to provide someone from the fighting game community an opportunity to develop their skills and express their talent as a game designer,” says Frank Lantz, the Director of the NYU Game Center, ‘“This scholarship is a truly unique initiative to explore, discover and innovate in the world of competitive game design.”

Tony Kao, the recipient of the 2014 Evo Scholarship, continues to pursue his MFA is Game Design at NYU. Tony was recently interviewed about the Evo Scholarship by NBC New York. That recording is available here.

The 2015 Evo Scholar, Christian Sutton, known in the community as “Skisonic,’" is already an accomplished commentator, player, and ambassador of competitive games. About the Evo Scholarship Mr. Sutton says, "I'm excited to come to New York and be inspired by a place that is constantly in motion. I hope to bring the hardcore, passionate spirit of competitive fighting gamers to the program, and I'm anxious to learn from people who may not even know how to throw a Hadouken but whose unique experiences might offer me a fresh perspective."

The NYU Game Center has become a hub for competitive games through events like Spring Fighter and the New York eSports Summit. Previous guests from the world of competitive gaming include Daigo Umehara, Seth Killian, and Sean Plott. The Game Center is also home to innovative competitive game design; games like Killer Queen, Nidhogg, and Baribariball have all come out of the community of designers at the Game Center.

The Evo scholarship is available to anyone wishing to study Game Design at the Master’s or Bachelor’s level at New York University. The Evo scholarship will be awarded for a third time in 2016. To support the scholarship, tune in to Evo 2015 on July 17-19th on Twitch.tv. For more information about the NYU Game Center and the Evo Scholarship, email gamecenter@nyu.edu or visit our website at http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/evo/