A few days after the Smash World Tour news [SWT] will cancel the final championship in 2022 and the 2023 tour, Nintendo has issued a lengthy statement about the decision does not grant SWT a license to hold Smash Bros. events..
In a statement to IGN, Nintendo said that “its decision is based solely on our assessment of the proposals submitted by SWT and our assessment of their unlicensed activities.” Nintendo added that “Any partners we license to must meet the high standards we demand with regard to the health and safety of our fans.”
It is also important that partners adhere to trademark and intellectual property guidelines, and conduct themselves according to professional and organizational best practices. “We use this same method to independently evaluate all partners. If we find out that a partner is doing something inappropriate, we work to fix that.”
The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entire Smash World Tour 2023 must be cancelled.
Full story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp
– Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) November 29, 2022
Earlier this week, the organizers of the Smash World Tour, one of the largest third parties Super Smash Bros. fighting game tournaments, has announced that it will be canceling its final event of the year as well as its 2023 events after Nintendo refused to grant them a license to host Smash Bros. fighting tournament events. .
SWT’s organizers published a lengthy post on Medium regretting the events, claiming that “without any warning” it had been told it could no longer function. . The organizers also revealed that they are in talks with Nintendo to receive a license to operate the Smash Bros. tournaments. and Nintendo even noted how SWT doesn’t violate their IP.
However, this point seems to be contested by Nintendo’s statement, which implies that any partner must adhere to the “brand and intellectual property guidelines” set forth by the company.
Nintendo also reiterated that it “orally” told the SWT organizers that it was not asking to cancel the 2022 final “because of its impact on players” and said that “the decision to cancel SWT 2022 is , and still is, their own choice.
SWT’s organizers say they will offer a full refund to attendees of the now-cancelled 2022 event.
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SWT organizers also accused one of the Smash Bros. Nintendo’s Panda Global, the organizer of the Panda Cup Smash Bros. tournament, sabotaged it by claiming that founder Alan Bunney had told potential organizers that SWT would be shutting down, thus carrying out the objections. Potential SWT partners have second thoughts about participating in the Smash World Tour.
Nintendo said its decision was “not influenced by any external parties such as Panda Global” and that the company “is open to working with other organizations and will continue to provide licenses for major external tournaments.” beyond the Panda Cup.” While Panda Global will remain a partner with Nintendo on Smash Bros., the company says it “looks”[s] Look forward to suggestions from other groups regarding league licenses.
You can read Nintendo’s full statement below.
Matt TM Kim is IGN News Editor. You can approach him @lawoftd.
