Some of you are absolutely delusional, holy crap.
Does Nintendo have the right to shut down both the live stream for the Splatoon tournament, as well as the Smash tournament? Yes, of course, however, this is not at all a black and white situation like most of you are making it out to be.
The reason why The Big House was going to use Slippi in the first place, for those unaware, is because it was impossible to do an in-person tournament due to obvious real-world events happening right now. There is nothing illegal inherently about Slippi itself. It does not need Smash in order to operate, although, it was made with Smash in mind. Now obviously, the problem mostly comes down to the use of pirated or ripped copies of Melee being used in conjunction with Slippi for the tournament.
It’s worth remembering that Nintendo is not required to send DMCA strikes to anyone that uses their brand in a way that could warrant it. Considering the fact that the tournament is not able to run in-person in the first place this year, this should have been the one time Nintendo made an exception. There’s nothing legally wrong with Nintendo striking the tournament, but it sure is freaking lame and a massive let down that they refused to recognize this.
I’ve seen a lot of people here and elsewhere saying the game should “just die already” too, and I couldn’t disagree more. People are free to enjoy whatever game or other types of media they like. Do you all really just stop playing a game after you get your initial fill from the first few weeks, or at the end of the console it belongs to’s lifetime? I highly doubt it, especially considering how well Super Mario 3D All-Stars has done, or with how so many of you beg for more Nintendo Switch Online classic games.
I’m constantly seeing people crap all over the smash community too, which I can understand given its history and recent controversies, however, the bad people in the community don’t even remotely represent the majority. Part of the problem that comes with properly policing such a community too is that it is entirely grass roots, and doesn’t have any sort of support from Nintendo or other brands, which is part of the reason why people are suddenly striking against them with #FreeMelee and the like. You can call them entitled, but I can assure you from my experience, and with the people I have talked to, it is far from it.
Obviously, the Splatoon tournament getting its live stream shut down was damage control on Nintendo’s part, and I can’t exactly blame them for that, although, it also shows they are completely aware of the situation, but choose to still ignore what is going on. It has come out too that Nintendo has actively shut down competitive Smash events in the past, despite companies ranging from Red Bull and Twitch willing to do most of the work to get them up and running, but Nintendo simply never following through with the deals and talks they were making.
The whole #FreeMelee controversy really stems from Nintendo’s refusal for Smash to become a true and relevant eSport. If Nintendo was willing to just support it a little bit, or at the very least not actively shut down tournaments, Smash could potentially become the biggest eSport in the world. But Nintendo doesn’t want that, which is also their right, but it isn’t exactly very morally right when they constantly string along the community, thinking they’re making gains when they’re really not.
