They may have come from around the world to the French Riviera. But the only views they were interested in were on computer monitors inside a hangar-like exhibition space.

Players and fans of top-selling fighter video games -- think Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter -- converged on Nice over the weekend for the first European edition of Evo, the biggest esports championship for this gaming category.

"It's a golden opportunity to see how you measure up to adversaries from the entire world," said Julien Thomas, a 23-year-old Parisian who is one of the top French players of Street Fighter 6.

In its 29-year history, US-based Evo -- short for the Evolution Championship Series -- has never had a European tournament, and the anticipation was evident.

Some 5,000 players from 93 countries were s

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