Is this Smash World Tour news really that shocking? Nintendo has ruthless and self-servingly shut down the beloved, community-organized Smash World Tour as its instead seeks to promote its own commercial promotion.
Is this really that surprising to anyone who is an avid fan of Nintendo. Hell, even for people who are extreme causal fans (ie: me) of the company and have only played the classic games from the legacy brands (ex: Mario, Wii Sports, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, etc.), this news was as shocking as the sunrise this morning. Of course, Nintendo would pull a ruthless, calculated move to screw over their loyal, devoted fanbase in the interest of making money.
That’s just what they do.
Doesn’t anyone remember the Big House controversy, or Nintendo removing beloved games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy from their eShop in the name of ‘Mario celebration’, or what about when Nintendo was accused of mistreating and overworking their employees early this year. All of these controversies have taken place in just the last two years ALONE, which should tell you what kind of company Nintendo has unfortunately evolved into.
Nevertheless, this latest controversy with the Smash World Tour is just another dreadful PR stunt that Nintendo is pulling in order to make a few extra dollars off its fans. Nintendo had already partnered up with a company called Panda to broadcast and run a competing Smash event that has obviously replaced the well-known and beloved Smash World Tour without any warning or grace period.
Supposedly, Nintendo was so ruthless in their destruction of the Smash World Tour that they sent a letter to the organizers a day before Thanksgiving (how about that for Holiday cheer) that the company could no longer allow the license agreement to stand and that the World Tour needed to be cancelled immediately. Oh, and just to get some context out to you with the dates, the Smash World Tour Championships were supposed to take place during December 8th-11th.
Yeah, Nintendo waited all the way until the championship round (which is where competitors could win up to $350k) to cancel the entire tournament. How classy.
Anywho, with all of the backlash and disgust, Nintendo has obviously already come out with a rebuttal to the Smash World Tour organizers statement with one of their own that alleges that they didn’t demand the 2022 Tour to be halted and the 2023 Tour to be discontinued all together.
Then, with allegedly Nintendo’s own handwriting (well, a typed letter), the Smash World Tour organizers put out a rebuttal to Nintendo’s rebuttal that blatantly showed that the company ordered the organizers to shut down the 2022 Championships and the 2023 Tour.
Is this a real letter? I don’t know. Could Nintendo actually be telling the truth about the cancelation of the 2022 Championships? Maybe. But given their track record, I just can’t find it in myself to believe them.
Sorry, Nintendo, but being a jerk doesn’t always work out in the court of public opinion. Actually, it never does.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Nintendo) (Super Mario Odyssey Trailer – Nintendo Switch – YouTube)
