Nintendo has issued a statement after canceling the Smash World Tour, claiming they didn’t ask them to shut down the Championship.
Nintendo has responded after the Smash community condemned them and Panda Global over the last minute cancelation of Smash World Tour, including the Championship in December.
Smash World Tour's Championship and 2023 circuit were both abruptly canceled when Nintendo demanded SWT cease operations. Smash World Tour wrote a lengthy Medium blog discussing what happened, claiming Nintendo reached out to them before Thanksgiving to demand they shut down the circuit after a year of back and forth communication over the Smash Bros. license. Panda was also brought up in the blog, with SWT stating that the CEO had tried to monopolize all of the events and streaming rights.
The competitive Smash scene responded by quickly condemning Nintendo and Panda. A lot of pros stated that they would not be attending any events in the Panda Cup. Other pros felt pressure to leave the esports organization but it would leave them without a sponsor.
Nintendo responds to backlash from SWT and Smash community
As the backlash continued, Nintendo decided to provide a statement to Kotaku.
"Nintendo's decision was solely based on our assessment of the proposals submitted by the SWT and our evaluation of their unlicensed activities. This decision was not influenced by any external parties such as Panda Global," a spokesperson wrote.
Nintendo went on to claim that they never told Smash World Tour to cancel the 2022 finals "because of the impact it would have on players." Nintendo went on to say that the cancelation was all Smash World Tour's own choice.
This claim left a very bad taste in fans' mouths. Many felt that Nintendo was attempting to manipulate the Smash community by putting the blame on Smash World Tour.
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Some players pointed out that Nintendo specifically stated that an "approved license" had to be secured to operate "any commercial activity" featuring a Nintendo IP, like Smash. And the license must be secured in advance. Meanwhile, Nintendo had refused to give Smash World Tour a license ahead of the Championship.
Smash World Tour responded to Nintendo's statement earlier today. They stated that they were "struggling to understand" why Nintendo rushed to meet with them before Thanksgiving if they had been fine with the Championship continuing.
"We are struggling to understand why they would not simply reach out to us after our event, rather than rush to meet with us before the Thanksgiving holiday break, just two weeks before our Championships event," SWT wrote.
Smash World Tour went on to reiterate that Nintendo had stated in previous emails and phone calls that the Championships was always part of the licensing discussion.
The circuit organizer went on to say that the most concerning part of Nintendo's statement regarded its relationship with Panda Global. Despite all of the attempt at sabotaging the SWT, it seemed like Nintendo was standing by the organization, calling them a "key partner" and stating that they "advocate" for the Smash community despite SWT telling them on multiple occasions about Panda's behavior.
Smash World Tour urged Nintendo to reconsider how they are approaching the Smash community.
"We are incredibly grateful for all of the community support and corroboration regarding the truth of our claims. We understood it was a significant risk to come forward with all of this, but we feel now more than ever that it was absolutely necessary. Especially given this recent statement by Nintendo, we believe this may be one of the most important times the Smash community has ever faced," SWT said.
