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The Super Smash Bros. franchise is one of the oldest esports competitions still active today, and after more than 15 years of competition the scene will now have a global tournament circuit.
Announced over the weekend, the Smash World Tour will span a full year of tournaments throughout the world for both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate. Players will be ranked based on their performance at select tournaments, and the top 31 players will qualify for a final tournament with $250K on the line, divided between the two games. Prior to the finals, a Last Chance Qualifier open tournament will be held to round out the bracket at 32 competitors.
The structure is similar to most other major fighting games that feature their own tournament circuit partnered with established tournaments and hosts its own high stakes finals. The Smash World Tour has one notable difference, however – the rights holder is not involved.
According to the circuit’s official website, “As of now, The Smash World Tour is not associated or affiliated with Nintendo or Nintendo of America – though we hope to team up with them in the future! One of our goals with the Tour is to offer a unified way for Nintendo to directly support the competitive scene.”
Nintendo’s relationship with Smash esports over the years has ranged wildly from actively antagonistic to passively supportive over the years, though since the launch of Ultimate, the company has taken a more active role in lifting up the scene through social media, partnering with various events, and even hosting its own unique tournaments. However, Nintendo has yet to support the game with prize money in the way Capcom and Bandai Namco do for Street Fighter and TEKKEN, respectively.
The Smash World Tour lists Twitch and tournament organization platform Smash.gg as its official partners. According to the website, the circuit will provide “opportunities to grow the prize pools,” with details to be revealed at a later date.
