Smash insider’s claims Nintendo allegedly sabotaged esports goes viral

A detailed report from a supposed Smash Bros insider has gone viral for indicating how Nintendo has been allegedly trying to destroy the game’s esports scene for many years.

Nintendo has created a recent rift with its player base after the company hit The Big House, an online tournament, with a cease and desist order for playing on a modded version of Melee that used Slippi. Slippi is a tool that gives Melee seamless online play in 2020.

Following the cease and desist, many pros have blasted Nintendo, with some, such as Team Liquid’s Juan ‘Hungrybox’ Debiedma calling on the community to fight back against the Japanese gaming juggernaut.

Now, a Twitter account simply named “AnonymousSmasher” has gone viral for posting a massive account of all the ways Nintendo has reportedly hurt the game in the past.

The TwitLonger, titled “How Nintendo Has Hurt the Smash Community,” was reportedly written months prior to The Big House’s cancelation, but was released anonymously for “obvious reasons.”

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“To begin, I want to state that I am not a journalist. What I’m writing below is directly from what I’ve been told by the individuals who work at these companies or are deeply familiar with the business dealings of these companies by the nature of their position in esports,” the author warned to begin the piece.

Following this, the individual went into detail about how third-parties such as Eleague, ESL and MLG have attempted to work with Nintendo, but the company was near impossible to work with being slow to respond or asking outrageous licensing fees.

Nintendo

Melee has had its share of growing pains as an esport.

According to the insider, Twitch “had been in negotiations with Nintendo to run a sanctioned circuit for Smash, including Smash 4 and Melee, starting around 2015.”

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The insider then claims that Twitch was fronting the costs which would have had a budget in the millions. “During this time, it’d seem like Twitch was always close, only to have conversations left without a response from Nintendo for months, thus delaying the process,” the insider revealed.

“Eventually, around early 2018, after 3 years of man-hours and efforts to appease Nintendo, the parties came to an agreement. This wasn’t just a verbal agreement, or an agreement made in good faith. It was a written contractual agreement meant to kick off the circuit for both Melee and Smash 4,” they further added.

Unfortunately, it all came crashing down. “Unbeknownst to anyone, Nintendo had plans to announce Smash Ultimate in 2018. Nintendo began ghosting those working at Twitch, even after the agreement was made. Then, once Ultimate was announced, Nintendo came back to Twitch and effectively stated that the circuit no longer made sense with Ultimate in sight.”

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The report has since been shared by prolific members of the community such as William ‘Leffen’ Hjelte who remarked, “I hope that one day we can #SaveSmash and its scene from Nintendo.”

Smash God Adam ‘Armada’ Lindgren seemed to confirm that a lot in the report was true. “I understand if people might be skeptical but believe me when I say that this is very accurate,” he said.

Of course take anything the anonymous poster says with a grain of salt. Without sources, their claims can’t be verified. However, it’s interesting that several prominent members of  the scene are backing it up. With the Smash community in an uproar, only time will tell if Nintendo finally backs down or if they dig their heels in continue to create a divide between them and the fandom.