Nintendo’s framing possibly came from thinking an anti-piracy statement would look better than an anti-modding statement. Especially since the mod in question was doing a better job of creating online matchmaking for Smash than the billion dollar company had managed thus far. The anti-piracy statement, in Nintendo’s eyes, might have seemed safer. What Nintendo may not have realized is, this was much, much worse for Melee. Nintendo’s reasoning now gave them carte blanche to cancel any Melee tournament, presenting a raw existential threat Melee had to fight to avoid either a massive contraction or the outright death of the esport. The Melee community fired back with the #FreeMelee hashtag, which reached trending. The social media campaign brought attention to Nintendo’s draconian response, which quickly became unpopular and criticized across gaming circles. The Melee wanted to make it clear that fundamentally disallowing Melee sports events online would at least cost the company in reputation. To follow up on the social media push, leading voices in the Melee community began organizing. Melee commentator turned popular streamer, Ludwig Ahgren, quickly put out a very public notice that he’d be hosting an online charity tournament running Slippi. The Melee community wanted to test how far Nintendo would take their recent stance against ISO files and Slippi and to push the bad PR further. Ahgren (humorously) outlines the PR strategy in the clip below. While Melee was being existentially threatened by Nintendo, the newest Smash title, Ultimate, wasn’t. This is a very normal dynamic for Smash, where Nintendo does little to support but does not hurt the esports arena of their new Smash title. So many in the Smash community thought until an anonymous tip suggested otherwise.Īn anonymous source claimed that Nintendo had not only sabotaged Melee but had actively kept down Smash as an esport. Nintendo purportedly worked alongside several major production companies in esports, promising to create a wider league and infrastructure for Smash. Only to use these ties to manipulate community leaders. The most notable example is a mod called Project M. SUPER SMASH BROS MELEE ROM ISO ZONE MOD.
0 kommentar(er)
