Nintendo Fires Back At Criticism Over Smash Bros Tournament Cancellation
Nintendo has released a full statement over criticism of its decision to shut down a massive "Super Smash Bros." tournament. Announced earlier this week, Nintendo allegedly forced Smash World Tour to shut down its tournaments, including its championship in late 2022 and all of its 2023 events, after Smash World Tour spent most of the year in talks with Nintendo about becoming an officially licensed partner. Nintendo has since given a full statement to IGN, stating its reasons for not taking on Smash World Tour as an official partner.
"Nintendo's decision was solely based on our assessment of the proposals submitted by the SWT and our evaluation of their unlicensed activities," part of the statement reads. "Any partner that we grant a license to has to meet the high standards we require when it comes to the health and safety of our fans. It's also important that a partner adheres to brand and IP guidelines and conducts itself according to professional and organizational best practices. We use this same approach to independently assess all partners."
While Nintendo did not specify the reasons why it chose to shut down Smash World Tour, it appears to believe that the organizers did not meet its standards or did not properly use its IP. Nintendo also said in the statement that it would continue working with Panda Global on the Panda Cup, something some fans and players aren't happy about. According to Smash World Tour, Panda Global is trying to shut down its competition. Smash World Tour detailed the allegations in a follow-up statement.
Smash World Tour's response to Nintendo
Smash World Tour has posted a follow-up response to Nintendo's official statement, taking issue with the section where Nintendo states "we also let them know verbally that we were not requiring they cancel the 2022 finals event because of the impact it would have on players."
In Smash World Tour's response, the company expressed confusion as to why Nintendo would feel the need to bring up these issues two weeks before the championship instead of after if it had no intention of shutting them down. Furthermore, the company stated that it received notice, in writing, from Nintendo to shut down the championship.
Smash World Tour also commented on Nintendo's continued relationship with Panda Global. "This is especially concerning given that Nintendo has been aware of Panda's behavior for quite some time – so much so that they directly told us on multiple occasions that it would be addressed. Yet even after countless corroborating testimonies from other community leaders and organizers, Nintendo continues to back Panda as a 'key partner' and claims that 'Panda continues to advocate on behalf of the Super Smash Bros. community."
While it doesn't seem like Nintendo's new statement has made anyone happy, it does confirm that Smash World Tour will not be able to host any events moving forward, as Nintendo did not choose to reverse the decision at this point.