This year at E3 Nintendo is going to be aggressively advancing into some new territory, exploring the competitive potential of the next to flagship first-party titles headed to Nintendo Switch. Over the course of two days, we’ll watch as pros and amateurs like me and you compete in the Splatoon 2 World Inking Invitational and ARMS Open Invitational.
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“Splatoon 2 and ARMS are games that lend themselves perfectly to tournaments, and E3 is an ideal venue to bring people together to compete,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “These friendly tournaments will highlight the fun, competitive nature of these games and the Nintendo Switch hardware for people at home and on the show floor.”
The festivities will kick off on Tuesday, June 13 with the Splatoon 2 World Inkling Invitational, and you’ll be able to watch live on Nintendo’s official E3 website, or its YouTube and Twitch channels. Below are the official details for that tournament as well as the ARMS Open from the official press release:
For the first time ever, competitors from four different global regions will compete for world dominance in Splatoon 2. The four four-person teams – “Deadbeat” from the United States, “Dynameu” from Japan, “Rising Moon” from Europe and “Blue Ringed Octolings” from Australia/New Zealand – defeated their rivals in local tournaments that occurred in recent months.
During the show in Los Angeles, teams will battle in a round-robin Turf War tournament that will decide seeding for the next round. All teams will play one another and get a chance to scope out their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. In the next round, teams will battle in the game’s Ranked Battle modes. The semifinal stage will be a best-of-five battle, while the championship will be best-of-seven.
The winning team of the live-streamed tournament will win global bragging rights and will have their names engraved on a sweet Splatoon 2 trophy. Announcers for the Splatoon 2 tournament will be avid Splatoon player, Nintendo fan, athlete and broadcaster Jordan Kent, Ashley Esqueda of CNET and the Nintendo Treehouse’s Eric Smith.
2017 ARMS Open Invitational – Wednesday, June 14, Approximately 3:30 p.m. PT
This live-streamed ARMS competition will pit four expert competitive gamers from the fighting game community against E3 attendees who qualify during the event. E3 attendees can visit the Nintendo booth between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday, June 14, for a chance to win a spot in the finals. The top four competitors will be selected to face off against four pro competitive gamers.
