For anyone catching up, Smash World Tour (SWT) was a tournament where players compete against one another in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. to accumulate points from community events wherever they may play from. Then, this December, the highest-earning competitors would attend the SWT Championship in San Antonio, Texas, with a prize pool worth over $250,000.
However, the tournament was canceled as of November 29th, just days before the championship was to be held. The official tweet from SWT can be seen below. This means the cancellation of their planned 2023 tour as well.
According to SWT (via Medium), they could not continue with their tour due to IP infringements of game modification. However, SWT did not want to leave out in their official statement the competition with Panda Cup Smash Bros. tournament held by one of Nintendo's partners, Panda Global.
"... we quickly found that many organizers were concerned about joining up in 2022. They told us that they had been told by Alan, the CEO and co-founder of Panda, that we were going to get shut down and were not coming back in 2022."
Nintendo has also released its official statement, where they refute the impact of the Panda Cup on their decision. Instead, they could have seen the two competitions operating simultaneously for the fans and the decision to cancel was only SWT's to make.
"Nintendo would like to explain to all super Smash Bros. fans and interested parties the background and rationale related to our decision to not grant a license to Smash World Tour (SWT) for their upcoming activities."
"Nintendo's decision was solely based on our assessment of the proposals submitted by the SWT and our evaluation of their unlicensed activities. This decision was not influenced by any external parties such as Panda Global. Any partner that we grant a license to has to meet the high standards we require when it comes to the health and safety of our fans. It's also important that a partner adheres to brand and IP guidelines and conducts itself according to professional and organizational best practices. We use this same approach to independently assess all partners. If we discover that a partner is doing something inappropriate, we will work to correct it."
"When we notified the SWT that we would not license their 2022 or 2023 activities, we also let them know verbally that we were not requiring they cancel the 2022 finals event because of the impact it would have on players. Thus, the decision to cancel the SWT 2022 was, and still is, their own choice."
"We are open to partnering with other organizations and will continue to offer licenses for major tournaments outside of the Panda Cup. Panda Global will continue to be a key partner and we look forward to receiving proposals from other groups for tournament licenses. In the meantime, Panda continues to advocate on behalf of the Super Smash Bros. community, even to the point that Panda has advocated for other organizations and tournaments to work with Nintendo, such as The Big House and the organizers of the SWT to benefit the larger Super Smash Bros. community. Nintendo cares about Super Smash Bros. fans and its community very much, and we hope to continue to hear their passionate feedback. We are committed to working hard to bring joy and fun to the community through tournaments while also ensuring we and our partners are operating in a manner that is positive and responsible."
Were any of you competing in either of these? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments!