Nintendo Explains Why They Don't Make Smash Bros a Good Esport

eSports might not be the future of entertainment the way investors are trying to pitch it, and growth in the sector has certainly slowed a bit from the 2018-2019 rush, but its still a pretty big deal, with Epic Games hosting Fortnight tournaments that will make millionaires out of the winners, Activision and Blizzard putting phat stacks behind Call of Duty and Overwatch (although Blizzard seems to be struggling with eSports as of late), and Valve continuing to make DOTA 2 the MOBA of choice for players who want to bring home insane prize pools.

Fighting Games, on the other hand, are struggling to make the kind of money these studios are putting out. This includes the biggest fighting game out there, Super Smash Brothers. Despite being one of the biggest games in the world and having the potential to be an eSports mega-sport, Nintendo has hesitated to support the games professional potential and has refused to offer prize pools the way that other studios have.

Well, speaking with Nikkei, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa explained why that was the case (with a translation helpfully being provided by Kotaku):

Esports, in which players compete on stage for prize money as an audience watches, demonstrates one of the wonderful charms of video games Its not that were opposed to it. So that our games can be widely enjoyed by anyone regardless of experience, gender, or age, we want to be able to participate in a wide range of different events. Our strength, what differentiates us from other companies, is this different worldview, not an amount of prize money."

So yeah its not a good excuse, but its also not a terrible one either. Many eSports games, like League of Legends, suffer because patches and updates are designed for pro players, making the majority of people feel as if theyve been forgotten. Nintendo wanting to avoid projecting that attitude kind of makes sense but its not a good enough excuse to justify their dumb decision.

Whatever. Nintendo wouldnt be Nintendo if they didnt make bafflingly dumb decisions every once in a while.