This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

Super Smash Bros. has had a vibrant competitive scene for many years now, and yet Nintendo’s relationship with the more Esports focused side of the franchise has always been lukewarm at best. Things have admittedly improved in recent years, with logistical support for grassroots events, official tournaments and invitationals at events like E3, and there’s now an official tournament portal over on Nintendo Europe for players to find upcoming competitions.

One area the company has yet to address though is prize money. Nintendo has so far been reluctant to pony up any cash for the victors of Smash tournaments. This is in comparison to the likes of Epic who splashed out $100m on last year’s Fortnite World Cup, and the Overwatch League Cup which had a prize pool of £3.5m last year.

In an interview with Nikkei, translated by Kotaku, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa was questioned why Nintendo aren’t spending more on Esports prize for top-level Smash players. He kind of side-stepped the question, but did seem to indicate that Nintendo are reluctant to segregate Smash’s audience by highlighting competitive players of what is still - at it’s core - a party game.

“Esports, in which players compete on stage for prize money as an audience watches, demonstrates one of the wonderful charms of video games. It’s not that we’re opposed to it. So that our games can be widely enjoyed by anyone regardless of experience, gender, or age, we want to be able to participate in a wide range of different events. Our strength, what differentiates us from other companies, is this different worldview, not an amount of prize money.”

As we said, not the most straightforward answer but you can kind of see what he’s getting at.

Still though, with Esports now a billion dollar industry - and with the likes of Super Smash Bros and Splatoon enjoying vibrant competitive scenes already - you would think Nintendo would be keen to explore the space more.

What do you think? Should Nintendo shout about (and financially support) their Esports credentials more? Or would doing so detract from their reputation for universal experiences? Let us know down in the comments.

Source: Kotaku