Facts so far.
The Smash World Tour, the unofficial Super Smash Bros. circuit run by eSports team VGBootCamp, announced yesterday that it will cease operations. The tournament series was nearing the end of the 2022 season, with the championship due to take place on his December 9th weekend. Also, his scheduled 2023 season was cancelled.of Open letter shared on TwitterSWT was contacted by Nintendo the night before Thanksgiving to be told they would no longer be allowed to operate the tournament circuit.
According to an open letter, SWT organizers were shocked to hear this, as they had been negotiating with Nintendo last year to obtain a license to operate as an official Nintendo-sponsored event. After announcing its official sponsorship of the Panda Cup, Nintendo assured SWT management that the tournament was not at risk of being shut down and “fully reflected Nintendo’s values.” A key takeaway from the meeting was that Nintendo’s main concern in closing the tournament was whether the event utilized unauthorized game modification, which was controversial. Issue a cease and desist order to Big House Online in 2020 Due to the use of Super Smash Bros. Melee’s online netplay mod.
Nintendo explained that its partnership with PandaGlobal was non-exclusive and allowed SWT to apply for a license, stating that SWT submitted the application in January 2022. SWT claims that it was after this that PandaGlobal CEO Alan Bunney began advising tournament organizers that he was not affiliated with SWT. , claimed the tournament circuit would be closed. SWT explains that Nintendo dismissed it when asked about Bunny’s allegations and promised to speak to him about his comments.
SWT explains that this exchange will continue through 2022, with several delays in license applications and ongoing tensions between the SWT circuit and the Panda Cup behind the scenes. This culminated last week with Nintendo representatives informing SWT that the tournament will not be granted an official license and that Nintendo will not be permitted to continue operating without a license. , Nintendo also rejected a request to allow SWT to run the 2023 season with the intention of obtaining a possible license for the 2024 season, with Nintendo representatives saying “those times In its initial letter, SWT said it had received both verbal and written notice from Nintendo.
After last night’s talk broke down, Kotaku has received a statement from Nintendo It confirmed that SWT was unlicensed, but claimed that Nintendo had not asked to cancel the 2022 championship.SWT follow up immediately By sharing the written statement received from Nintendo, it said:
“Nintendo expects to secure an approved license to conduct commercial activities featuring Nintendo IP. It also expects to secure such a license prior to public disclosure. Upon further investigation, we found that Smash World Tour did not meet these expectations regarding health and safety guidelines and did not adhere to our internal partner guidelines. We are unable to license the Tour Championship or the 2023 Smash World Tour activities.”
Nintendo’s statement does not directly order SWT to stop, but it clarifies that any commercial activity using its IP requires a license. The statement further clarifies that it will not grant SWT its license for the 2022 championship or 2023 activities. , they just described as disapproving the same situation as SWT.
There was also some debate over Nintendo’s statement that SWT’s health and safety guidelines were not up to Nintendo’s standards, as SWT’s requirements for its COVID-19 vaccine are more stringent than the officially licensed Panda Cup. All participants must provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test resultPanda Cup We only encourage participants to follow CDC guidelines recommend a vaccine.But the panda cup Stricter rules requiring mask use indoorsSWT recommends for participants only.
At the time of publication, SWT’s response to Nintendo’s statement on Kotaku is the latest official comment on the matter, so there may still be developments before we know what really happened. The role played by PandaGlobal’s CEO in trying to undermine SWT is less discussed.number of representatives from prominent eSports organizations such as Beyond the Summit David Gorman When Golden Guardians Tracy Parks Gorman corroborated SWT’s version of events by describing Bunny’s actions as “basically running a protective racket”.Additional allegations against Panda Global have also surfaced, with pro player Nico Placed 7th in a Panda-run tournament last month and claims to have not received the tournament prize moneySpanish commentator Toon Laguna He claims he hasn’t been paid for the Panda Cup translation work dating back to July.
After the SWT letter was posted, several Panda Global-sponsored players spoke out against Panda, with Justin “Plup” McGrath stating: he believed the panda cup should be canceledCody “iBDW” Schwab Said he felt blind and betrayedEric “ESAM” Lew “This is a mess,” he said simply. Terrence “TKbreezy” Kershaw elaborated on the news on his Twitch channel So he began jokingly updating his resume to apply for new jobs.
At the time of publication, there is no official statement from Panda Global or Alan Bunney regarding SWT’s letter.
