Smash World Tour tournament cancelled over Nintendo's notice to no longer operate

Ryab · Nov 30, 2022

ShadowOne333 said:
View attachment 340811

One of the biggest Smash tournaments in the world, the Smash World Tour Championships, with over 6'400 live events worldwide and more than 325'000 in-person entrants, has received a notice from Nintendo two weeks before the event to cease operations.

The Smash World Tour (SWT) was scheduled to start on December 9th up to December 11th in San Antonio, Texas, with the biggest prize pool ever in the championship's history, with over $250'000. The tournament had previously stopped due to the worldwide pandemic, and this year's tournament was going to be the return to the in-person format for participants and those involved.

Back in November, 2021, the people from SWT got contacted by Nintendo themselves, alongside a legal representative of them. Though, to their surprise, the contact was not given to shut the event down, but rather to pursue a partnership and a legal use of the license so they could continue carrying forward with SWT's projects. Afterwards, from December up to March 2022, the announcement for a 2022 project was withhold as requested by Nintendo, and continued forwards according to Nintendo's guidelines, but with some issues with Panda's team in regards to the event. SWT submitted their request in April of 2022 for the upcoming event, and there was no response up until August, where the team had no option but to come forward with the announcement due to the delays in communication with Nintendo.

Nintendo responded back, and quoting the SWT team's official statement:

The proper submission was made in April, which reconvened with Nintendo all the way up to September, with Nintendo yet again reassuring that, while nothing was decided yet, they apologized for how long the process had taken so far, while mentioning that they were also monitoring the actions of Panda and their executive team due to their behaviour throughout the year.

November quickly came by, only one month before the event, and Nintendo finally got back in contact with the team on November 23rd, and quoting SWT's team:

Without a license, the championship couldn't operate. In short words, they can't continue forward, or they might risk a legal action by Nintendo (if one reads between the lines) if they continue forward with the event.

Source

I mean isnt this expected by now? Nintendo has been extremely picky about their property for years.

x65943 · Nov 30, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
Nintendo is such a fickle company. No one would put up with Ninty's BS if they didn't have such great games and franchises.

and if they didn't have such great games and franchises they couldn't afford to be so fickle, and would probably be less so

ChanseyIsTheBest · Nov 30, 2022

x65943 said:
and if they didn't have such great games and franchises they couldn't afford to be so fickle, and would probably be less so

Couldn't agree more - such as the cycle of game business - how the PS4 beat the XBONE due to Microsoft getting too big for it's boots, how they became better with stuff like Game Pass and may come ahead due to now Sony's arrogance.

Deleted member 414991 · Nov 30, 2022

Panda's CEO is a shady piece of shit. Company needs to drown.

Deleted member 194275 · Nov 30, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
Couldn't agree more - such as the cycle of game business - how the PS4 beat the XBONE due to Microsoft getting too big for it's boots, how they became better with stuff like Game Pass and may come ahead due to now Sony's arrogance.

I agree with you, both Nintendo and Sony are very arrogant, and this can bite their ass in the future, but Xbox? No, xbox's specialty is to lose against competition, day after day, year after year. Their monthly fee thing will not help. People are growing tired of monthly fees after all (and I'm not even mentioning how cheap is to buy the games on their catalog).

Plazorn · Nov 30, 2022

Smash Wars: Nintendo Strikes Back

Zense · Nov 30, 2022

ShadowOne333 said:
More so since it seems Nintendo just doesn't care about working with fans.

I too am more convinced of the narrative that Nintendo wants some kind of tyrannic control over everything that could be connected to their brand/brands.

However, I still would like to know their side of this, but as most articles state, Nintendo does not have any intentions of making any further comments.

Whatever their side may be, it is still very disrepectable to give such a notice so shortly before the tournament, especially so to everyone participating as contestants or others.

LibreNyaa · Nov 30, 2022

I don't keep up with Smash stuff much, but I think this is just a completely stupid move on Nintendo's part. All they do is lose free marketing, and all they gain is control over their IP that suffers because of that very control.

Kioku · Nov 30, 2022

Zense said:
I too am more convinced of the narrative that Nintendo wants some kind of tyrannic control over everything that could be connected to their brand/brands.

However, I still would like to know their side of this, but as most articles state, Nintendo does not have any intentions of making any further comments.

Whatever their side may be, it is still very disrepectable to give such a notice so shortly before the tournament, especially so to everyone participating as contestants or others.

They may have a reason, but given their past transgressions and how they seem to have a disdain toward community made projects, I'm on the side of "Fuck Nintendo".

Marc_LFD · Nov 30, 2022

Shittendo doing what they know best.

sley · Nov 30, 2022

There is a decent chance that Panda pushed Nintendo to that decision, I hope we get a statement quick.
Funny that we got one from Nintendo earlier than them.

codezer0 · Nov 30, 2022

Foxi4 said:
Nintendo shooting themselves in the foot every step of the way. They try their best to make their fans hate them, to no avail. One of the most litigious and unlikeable companies in the industry.

Seems like Rockstar is speedrunning to rank up there with them, to be blunt.

Deleted member 414991 · Nov 30, 2022

sley said:
There is a decent chance that Panda pushed Nintendo to that decision, I hope we get a statement quick.
Funny that we got one from Nintendo earlier than them.

It's basically confirmed. From corroborating statements from Beyond the Summit's CEO and multiple other TOs, Panda's CEO was running a racket where he threatened that various tournaments 'might be shut down, who knooows' if they didn't join the Panda Cup event system. I don't see why Nintendo would reverse on their position to support and license SWT unless Panda pushed them to.

Xzi · Nov 30, 2022

They really wanna make sure Smash is excluded from the fighting games community for the rest of time, huh?

lordrand11 · Nov 30, 2022

Kioku_Dreams said:
Nintendo says yes, but only if you do exactly what they want.

I'm not upset, just disappointed. Not surprised either.

Remember, they don't give a fuck about you.

I'm team Fuck Nintendo going on three years so far. They can piss off with their wannabe didneyworl apple asses, they haven't given a shit about the gamer since the N64, hell if even at all.

Kitocco · Nov 30, 2022

Nintendo’s DEFINITELY gonna make some announcement on Metroid Prime 4 soon, or a convenient end-of-the-year Nintendo Direct within the next few weeks to get the attention off this
I mean, it’s worked with Big House & announcing Sepiroth days later, and earlier this year with announcing the new Pokémon games after C&D’ing another event (I think it was EVO)

Nonetheless, this kind of behavior tracks with that old Twitlonger about how Nintendo’s strung along Smash’s competitive scene for yeaaaars with the prospect of a Circuit so long as events drop Project M, only to never follow through

osaka35 · Nov 30, 2022

Nintendo marketing really needs to sit down with the Nintendo legal department and chew them tf out. They keep shooting themselves in the foot and the customers suffer. Absolute toxic corporate nonsense.

EldritchPenumbra · Nov 30, 2022

How in the hell is it legal to control how a kid plays with his own toys that he paid for? It's not, so who is enforcing these imaginary laws, and who is complying with them? People must really want to live under Communism where every little detail of their life is controlled.

ShadowOne333 · Nov 30, 2022

EldritchPenumbra said:
How in the hell is it legal to control how a kid plays with his own toys that he paid for? It's not, so who is enforcing these imaginary laws, and who is complying with them? People must really want to live under Communism where every little detail of their life is controlled.

i think the issue here is that there's money involved. These kind of tournaments/championships usually deal with decent prize money pools, which is why Nintendo goes to these shitty stretches.

EldritchPenumbra · Nov 30, 2022

ShadowOne333 said:
i think the issue here is that there's money involved. These kind of tournaments/championships usually deal with decent prize money pools, which is why Nintendo goes to these shitty stretches.

Again, not Nintendo's business, nor is it the government's problem. People need to stop making excuses for the clowns.

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