The Smash World Tour organizers have announced the 2022 championship tournament, and the 2023 series of events have been canceled following notice from Nintendo, making it impossible to operate the tournament.
“It is with an incredibly heavy heart that we have to announce that we have to cancel both the upcoming Smash World Tour Championship and the 2023 Smash World Tour,” the organizers wrote. medium post.
“Out of nowhere, we received a notice of suspension from Nintendo the night before Thanksgiving. has taken appropriate logistical steps around the clock and prepared this statement with appropriate legal guidance.”
The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entire 2023 Smash World Tour must be cancelled.
Full story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp
—Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) November 29, 2022
According to organizers, the Smash World Tour has hosted more than 6,400 live events worldwide, attended by more than 325,000 people. The prize pool for this year’s championship was set at $250,000, the largest in Smash Bros. history.
Nintendo has a known history of banging heads with third-party Super Smash Bros. events and tournaments. Nintendo has shut down his 2020 Super Smash Bros. tournament due to the use of online mods. Famously, Nintendo tried to shut down his Evo 2013 Super Smash Bros. Melee. This was followed by a community driven donation drive for winners to choose from. A game that joins Evo, the Super Smash Bros. After online protests, the tournament was allowed to proceed.
Last year, Nintendo appeared to be making its forays into the competitive Smash Bros. competitive scene by announcing an officially licensed tournament with Panda Global called the Panda Cup. However, Smash World Tour organizers claim that this very relationship may have played a role in the end of the tournament.
In a statement, Panda CEO Alan Bunny confirmed that despite ongoing discussions between Smash World Tour and Nintendo about the company’s potential licensing, the company’s efforts to bolster Smash World Tour’s organization are underway. Accusing it of sabotage, the company “made it clear that the Panda partnership is not exclusive.”[.]”
“However, we quickly learned that many organizers were concerned about participating. [with Smash World Tour] They told us that Panda’s CEO and co-founder, Alan, told us we were shutting down and wouldn’t be back in 2022. ”
In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said, “Unfortunately, following ongoing conversations with Smash World Tour, and following the same deep considerations that we apply to potential partners, we have decided that Full Circuit for 2023 will not be announced between SWT and Smash World Tour. No agreement could be reached, and Nintendo will not seek to change or cancel the remaining events in 2022, including the 2022 Championship event, given the adverse impact on players who had already planned to attend. I did.”
The organizers disputed this on their blog, stating: For upcoming championships or 2023 activities. The organizers say they also received this notice in writing.
In an interview with IGN about the Panda Cup earlier this year, the company said the decision to officially license the tournament was “a really big step for us.” He also alluded to the internal decision-making process that has evolved.
“We love our grassroots community and want to see it thrive, we want to see it grow stronger, but we also have our own internal challenges as Nintendo,” said Bill of Nintendo. Trinnen said at the time.
Anyway, the organizer of Smash World. The tour says it will “lost hundreds of thousands of dollars due to Nintendo’s actions,” but promises to provide full refunds to all participants.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s News Editor.you can contact him @lawoftd.
