Nintendo's New Tournament Guidelines Cause a Divide
Abdul Wahab

Nintendo’s New Tournament Guidelines Cause a Divide

For small-scale community tournament organizers, Nintendo has recently announced new guidelines that give them the freedom to start and run events that feature the company’s titles without needing to apply for an official license from Nintendo.

As well as being known for cutting-edge gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and Switch and classic games like Pokemon and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo is renowned in the competitive gaming world for conducting rigorous licensing discussions. The Smash World Tour’s cancellation in 2022 as a result of Nintendo’s refusal to grant it an official license serves as an example.

Nintendo recently published a new set of regulations for community tournament organizers to follow in order to better distinguish smaller, independently organized community tournaments from their larger equivalents. According to Nintendo’s new Community Tournament Guidelines, small-scale community tournaments can be held without the company’s formal approval. 

Small-scale community tournaments, however, are restricted to 200 players when held in person or 300 when held online, and their organizers are prohibited from charging spectators for viewing such events when they take place online. Small-scale community events are not allowed to “generate commercial revenue except as allowed by these guidelines,” nor are they allowed to provide prizes with a market value of more than $5,000.

Nintendo also made it clear that event planners can still have sizable gatherings, like the annual Super Smash Bros. conference Riptide, but they must first secure an official license from the business. It’s important to note that Nintendo first published these rules on its website for Nintendo of Japan before translating them into English. However, the competitive gaming world is now even more confused as a result of this translating procedure.

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo’s new rules were not well received by the competitive gaming scene. Axe, formerly known as X, a professional Super Smash Bros. Melee player, tweeted his displeasure with the new rules, saying that they were really concerned, particularly for Melee competitions. Concerns about the new rules were also expressed on the platform by gaming streamer Arevya, who emphasized that they themselves have a disability and need particular accessories to play Nintendo games.

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Abdul Wahab is a Software Engineer by profession and a Tech geek by nature. Having been associated with the tech industry for the last five years, he has covered a wide range of Tech topics and produced well-researched and engaging content. You will mostly find him reviewing tech products and writing blog posts. Binge-watching tech reviews and endlessly reading tech blogs are his favorite hobbies.