Nintendo Says You’ll Need A License To Host Smash Bros Tournaments

Nintendo has announced today that fans looking to host a tournament for Super Smash Bros or any other Nintendo games will need to apply for a license first.

In a statement on their website, they outlined the requirements to run “Community Tournaments”, as well as events under 200 participations.

The new rule takes effect November 15th, though the website with the guidelines did not provide a link to the actual application process for licensing.

“Nintendo cares about the community and would like to support individuals who want to celebrate that passion by creating memorable cooperative and competitive play experiences. At the same time, we want to ensure that fans who are doing so are engaging with our games, characters, and worlds in a way that positively supports other fans, players, and Nintendo”, the statement from Nintendo reads.

They defined Community Tournaments as being small scale (under 200 participants) and not-for-profit events, and those using games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate will need to apply for a license to get Nintendo’s approval.

It should be noted that while this will affect local events, Nintendo highlighted that events like school clubs are exempt from needing a license.

“School clubs are organizations; however, they may conduct competitions without requiring a license, as long as the following conditions are met and they adhere to the stipulations within these guidelines”, the FAQ reads.

The aforementioned guidelines are as follows:

• Participation in the tournament will not be open to the public, and the Participants will be limited to the members of the school club.
• The game tournament can be a standalone head-to-head competition between up to two schools, but will not involve 3 or more schools, and the tournament will not serve for ranking or qualification for a later tournament or championship.

Basically, school and college esports or fighting game clubs are still allowed to host tournaments, though the tournaments need to be members-only.

The announcement has been met with some distaste from the community, who compared this to Capcom’s similar attempt last year to only allow for licensed tournaments.

However, Alex Jebailey, founder of CEO Gaming, took to his own video to assure the community that his own experiences communicating with Nintendo have been a smooth one.

It’s not just Smash Bros that would be affected by these changes- since the guidelines refer to any Nintendo games, they would also apply to titles like Mario Kart, Splatoon or even Pokken.

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