Nintendo fans were none too happy that the company decided to cancel their Splatoon 2 tournament livestream. This followed last month’s canceling of a fan tournament featuring Super Smash Bros. Melee. Of course, Melee can’t be easily streamed online with current Nintendo hardware, but no such worries exist with Splatoon 2. But, the North American Open did not get the livestream treatment that was promised this weekend. About 30% of the players in the tourney voiced their support for the Melee players with their usernames. That probably prompted the Big N to close down shop. But, it might have had the opposite effect as the company began to trend on Twitter Sunday evening. Both #FreeSplatoon and #FreeMelee are all over the platform now.
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The Big House, who ran the Super Smash Bros. tourney, released a statement last month. “The Big House is heartbroken to share we’ve received a cease and desist from Nintendo of America, Inc. to cancel our upcoming online event. We were informed we do not have permission to host or broadcast the event, primarily due to the usage of Slippi. Sadly, all our competitions are affected. We are forced to comply with the order and cancel The Big House Online for both Melee and Ultimate. Refund information will be sent shortly. We apologize to all those impacted.”
So the Splatoon community, in support of the Smash community, has 30% of the top teams in this weekend’s Spl2 NA Open with Team names in support of Melee and Smash.
— Slimy (@SlimyQuagsire) December 5, 2020
So what does @NintendoAmerica @NintendoVS do in response?
They cancelled their livestream for tomorrow’s Finals.
Nintendo offered an official statement shortly after the news began to spread.
“Nintendo appreciates the love and the dedication the fighting game community has for the Super Smash Bros. series. We have partnered with numerous Super Smash Bros. tournaments in the past and have hosted our own online and offline tournaments for the game, and we plan to continue that support in the future. Unfortunately, the upcoming Big House4 tournament announced plans to host an online tournament for Super Smash Bros. Melee that requires use of illegally copied versions of the game in conjunction with a mod called “Slippi” during their online event. Nintendo therefore contacted the tournament organizers to ask them to stop. They refused, leaving Nintendo no choice but to step in to protect its intellectual property and brands. Nintendo cannot condone or allow piracy of its intellectual property.”
Were you looking forward to the Splatoon Tourney? Let us know down in the comments! Check out the responses down below:
Not ideal
I am not surprised at all by Nintendo on doing this.
— 🇵🇦 Blitz 🇵🇦 (@Blitzin101) December 6, 2020
Its a shame they promoted an “esports theme” for Splatoon 2 in the Switch reveal, and we all know this won’t ever happen.
The community can live without Nintendo. Its tough but the community stands together! Love you all 🥰 https://t.co/fVnFltRbsj
This is sad
I REALLY love Nintendo but only their games not their customer support, this at least to me is a disgusting move of Nintendo has done, other than cancelling Splatoon 2 Finals stream and Melee’s Tournament. https://t.co/YJy4rqhseg
— Ironix #FreeMelee #FreeSplatoon (@therealironix) December 7, 2020
Very wild times
Currently over a thousand people watching splatoon 2 on twitch right now with no events going on, when it’s normally got a couple dozen viewers. Nintendo definitely took that L today
— Dakota (@g2wolf) December 7, 2020
/s
People aren’t pleased
Despite not playing Splatoon anymore, Nintendo are cowards for canceling the Splatoon 2 stream just because of the FreeMelee hashtags
— Fresh Stars (@FreshStars0) December 7, 2020
Been an eventful couple of weeks
So… in the course of two weeks Nintendo has
— Xander (@xandersore) December 7, 2020
• C&D’d a community melee tournament, The Big House
• shut down splatoon 2 tournaments over the backlash
• and C&D’d a mental health awareness fundraiser dedicated to one of their most passionate fans, Etika
Some constructive criticism
I like Nintendo, but I seriously think they need to fire their entire legal team and stop being so overprotective of their IP, and they need to address community backlash head-on instead of dodging it like they did by cancelling the Splatoon 2 livestream.
— Donovan. (@dontrashroom) December 7, 2020
oof.
2500 NINTENDO GOLD POINTS POGGERS pic.twitter.com/4Da2b64Kkt
— Boots (@them_Boots) December 6, 2020
Goes without saying
If you’re interested in keeping up with the Splatoon scene, here are some good places to follow:@EndGame_TV – hosts online and LAN events and broadcasts, the team behind The Squid House@IPLSplatoon – An org with online events aimed at all corners of the community
— Slimy (@SlimyQuagsire) December 6, 2020
