Days after the news about the Smash World Tour [SWT] While Nintendo will cancel its last championship in 2022 and its tour in 2023, Nintendo has made a lengthy statement regarding this decision. It does not offer SWT a license to host Smash Bros. Events.
In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said its “decision was solely based on our assessment of the offers submitted by SWT and our assessment of their unlicensed activity.” “Any partner we license must meet the high standards we need when it comes to the health and safety of our fans,” Nintendo said.
“It’s also important for a partner to abide by brand and IP rules and conduct themselves according to professional and corporate best practices,” writes Nintendo. “We use the same approach to evaluate all partners independently. If we notice a partner has done something inappropriate, we will work to correct it.”
The upcoming Smash World Tour Championship and the 2023 Smash World Tour must all be cancelled.
Whole story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp
— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) 29 November 2022
Earlier this week, the organizers of the Smash World Tour, one of the largest third-party Super Smash Bros.. fighting game tournaments has announced it will cancel the last event of the year and 2023 events after Nintendo refused to license Smash Bros. fighting tournament events.
SWT’s organizers published a lengthy Medium post regretting the events, claiming it was told it could no longer work “without warning”. Organizers also announced that they are in talks with Nintendo to obtain a license to operate Smash Bros. tournaments and Nintendo even recorded how SWT didn’t violate their IP.
That point, however, is disputed by Nintendo’s statement, which apparently implies that any partner must abide by the “brand and IP guidelines” set by the company.
Nintendo also reiterated that it had “verbally” informed SWT organizers that it did not want to cancel the 2022 finals “because of the impact it would have on players”, adding that “the decision to cancel SWT 2022 was: and yet their own choice.”
SWT organizers say they will offer full refunds to attendees of the now-canceled 2022 event.
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SWT organizers also blamed one of Nintendo’s Smash Bros. partners, Panda Global, organizers of Panda Cup Smash Bros. The tournament caused any potential SWT partner to think twice about joining the Smash World Tour, by claiming founder Alan Bunney had told potential organizers that SWT would be shut down.
Nintendo said its decision was “not influenced by any outside party such as Panda Global” and that the company “is open to partnerships with other organizations and will continue to offer licenses for major tournaments outside of the Panda Cup.” Panda Global will continue to partner with Nintendo on Smash Bros. The company says it “seems”[s] We look forward to receiving offers from other groups for tournament licenses.”
You can read Nintendo’s full statement below.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s News Editor. you can reach him @lawoftd.