Nintendo shuts down Smash World Tour, the unofficial "Super Smash Bros." tournament, including its finals and the entire 2023 season.
The organizers of the unofficial tournament announced the cancellation of the Smash World Tour.
(Photo : Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Nintendo of America)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 11: Actress Zelda Williams settles it in Smash playing Super Smash Bros for Wii U on November 11, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.
Smash World Tour Finals, 2023 Season Has Been Canceled, Following Nintendo's Notice
As per the latest news story by Nintendo Life, the unofficial tournament, Smash World Tour, is shutting down its "Championships" and its entire 2023 tour.
It comes after the Japanese gaming giant, Nintendo, sent a notice to the organizers of the unofficial "Super Smash Bros." series, telling them that they could "no longer operate."
If ever the organizers of the tournament would like to continue, they would need an official license from Nintendo.
The Smash World Tour organizers say that "Without any warning, we received notice the night before Thanksgiving from Nintendo that we could no longer operate."
The folks behind the unofficial tournament say that "this was especially shocking given our discourse with Nintendo the past twelve months."
The organizers went on to add that "it felt as though Nintendo simply did not want the Smash World Tour to continue to exist."
Furthermore, the organizers of the unofficial tournament disclosed that its shutdown would end them losing "hundreds and thousands of dollars."
What is the Smash World Tour?
According to a recent report by Kotaku, the Smart World Tour is actually run by a third party instead of Nintendo, making it an unofficial tournament. But through the years, it has flourished to become one of the biggest esports events.
(Photo : Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Nintendo)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 12: Zelda Williams, Andre Meadows, Alanah Pearce and Devinsupertramp play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate onstage at Nintendo's 2018 Super Smash Bros. Invitational at Belasco Theatre on June 12, 2018 in Los Angeles, California.
In fact, the 2023 season is slated to have a staggering prize pool of roughly $350,000.
On the other hand, the now-canceled Championships supposedly breaks a record of the largest prize pool in the entire history of the tournament, which is to the tune of a cool $250,000.
The organizers further revealed that in 2022 the Tour conducted more than 6,400 live events in various parts of the world. It is worth noting that these numerous events had around 325,000 in-person participants.
All that said, the folks behind it tout the Smash World Tour to be "the largest esports tour in history, for any game title."
Smash World Tour No More?
But despite that, the recent notice from Nintendo essentially shuts down the tour.
However, there might be some hope for it to make its comeback. The organizers of the Smash World Tour say that they are still "open to continuing the conversation" with Nintendo.
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