2022/2023 Cancelation of Smash World Tour

Overview

The 2022/2023 Cancelation of Smash World Tour refers to the dissolution of the Smash World Tour, an independent circuit of Super Smash Brothers tournaments that would ultimately lead to a championship event with six-figure prize pools, due to pressure from esports organization Panda Global, which has a rival circuit in an official partnership with Nintendo. The news was devastating for many Smash fans and competitors, several of whom had spent much of 2022 traveling to events across the globe in order to qualify for the Smash World Tour championships. The news led to a harsh backlash against Nintendo and especially Panda Global.

Background

On November 29th, 2022, independent gaming organization VGBC announced that the championship finals for the 2022 Smash World Tour had been canceled and there would be no Smash World Tour in 2023.^[1]

In their statement,^[2] they explained that they believed they had a blessing from Nintendo to run their events so long as they did not use illegal game mods on Smash Brothers. They detailed the actions of Panda Global CEO Alan Bunney, which included purportedly threatening other independent Smash tournaments, including BTSSmash, saying they would not be able to operate in 2023 unless they joined the Nintendo-licensed Panda Cup.

Ultimately, Nintendo told the Smash World Tour organizers that their circuit would be unable to run without a commercial license from Nintendo, which would not be granted for their championship finals and would not be granted in 2023, essentially saying they could no longer operate.

They closed by saying they posted the letter in the hopes Nintendo would reconsider its decision.

To close, we ask that Nintendo reconsiders how it is currently proceeding with their relationship with the Smash community, as well as its partners. We are always open to continuing the conversation, and we hope we can be a part of the solution.

Developments

The news was devastating for many Smash competitors, several of whom had spent 2022 traveling the world to attend Smash World Tour events. While the Smash World Tour statement did not explicitly blame Panda Global for Nintendo's decision, their section detailing the actions and purported underhanded threats of Alan Bunney towards other independent organizers led many to believe they had some influence over Nintendo's final decision. Twitter user and Melee player @AidenCalvin^[3] expressed that he would never attend a Panda event again, accusing Nintendo of using Panda to choke out independent organizations (shown below, left). BTS Smash organizer @LDeeep^[4] accused Bunney of "running a protection racket" by implying any independent tournaments would get shut down unless they joined the Panda Cup (shown below, right).

VGBC posted a document announcing they would cancel two of their planned events due to uncertainty about what Nintendo will allow.^[8]

Panda's content creators expressed great disappointment with the decision. Commentator TKBreezy, signed with Panda, went on his Twitch stream that night and began applying for jobs (shown below, top), though he said he had been applying for jobs for months before that night.^[5][6] Also on November 29th, 2022, Panda player ESAM^[7] wrote on his Twitter, "I want to see the most opportunities for smash possible. This is fucked" (shown below, bottom).

Many also made memes, often at Panda's expense. For example, Twitter user @braeden_kb2 posted a Wesley Snipes Crying meme on November 29th about Panda creator Coney, gaining over 800 retweets and 9,600 likes in one day (shown below, left). Parody account @PandaGolbal then posted a meme mocking a typical Panda YouTube thumbnail about the controversy, gaining over 1,200 retweets and 6,900 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Nintendo gave a statement to Kotaku^[9] that it had not urged Smash World Tour to cancel the 2022 finals considering the time and player energy that had already been put into the circuit, but Smash World Tour organizers stated this completely contradicted what Nintendo had told them verbally and in writing.

On December 2nd, Nintendo and Panda both released statements alleging that VGBC had canceled the 2022 Smash World Tour of their own volition and were not ordered to by Nintendo, contradicting what VGBC said in their statement. Both statements were thoroughly mocked on social media. Dr. Alan eventually resigned as CEO of Panda.

Dr. Alan's Statement

On December 6th, 2022, Dr. Alan released a 31-page statement refuting the allegations against him. He claimed Smash World Tour intentionally sabotaged its 2022 championships in order to bring Panda down and rally the community behind it. VGBC, the organizers of Smash World Tour, disputed this in a statement of their own, saying they had little to gain and far more to lose by canceling their marquee 2022 event.

Search Interest

External References