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panda parody smash world tour cancellation

2022/2023 Cancelation of Smash World Tour

Part of a series on Super Smash Brothers. [View Related Entries]

Updated Dec 07, 2022 at 01:15PM EST by Adam.

Added Nov 30, 2022 at 11:38AM EST by Adam.

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Overview

The 2022/2023 Cancelation of Smash World Tour refers to the dissolution of the Smash World Tour, an independent circuit of Super Smash Brothers tournaments that would ultimately lead to a championship event with six-figure prize pools, due to pressure from esports organization Panda Global, which has a rival circuit in an official partnership with Nintendo. The news was devastating for many Smash fans and competitors, several of whom had spent much of 2022 traveling to events across the globe in order to qualify for the Smash World Tour championships. The news led to a harsh backlash against Nintendo and especially Panda Global.

Background

On November 29th, 2022, independent gaming organization VGBC announced that the championship finals for the 2022 Smash World Tour had been canceled and there would be no Smash World Tour in 2023.[1]


SMASH Smash World Tour 2022 @SmashWorld Tour +WORLD TOUR 2022 The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entirety of the 2023 Smash World Tour must be cancelled. Full Story: medium.com/@smashworldtou... SMASH OFFICIAL + WORLD TOUR. STATEMENT 2022

In their statement,[2] they explained that they believed they had a blessing from Nintendo to run their events so long as they did not use illegal game mods on Smash Brothers. They detailed the actions of Panda Global CEO Alan Bunney, which included purportedly threatening other independent Smash tournaments, including BTSSmash, saying they would not be able to operate in 2023 unless they joined the Nintendo-licensed Panda Cup.

Ultimately, Nintendo told the Smash World Tour organizers that their circuit would be unable to run without a commercial license from Nintendo, which would not be granted for their championship finals and would not be granted in 2023, essentially saying they could no longer operate.

They closed by saying they posted the letter in the hopes Nintendo would reconsider its decision.

To close, we ask that Nintendo reconsiders how it is currently proceeding with their relationship with the Smash community, as well as its partners. We are always open to continuing the conversation, and we hope we can be a part of the solution.

Developments

The news was devastating for many Smash competitors, several of whom had spent 2022 traveling the world to attend Smash World Tour events. While the Smash World Tour statement did not explicitly blame Panda Global for Nintendo's decision, their section detailing the actions and purported underhanded threats of Alan Bunney towards other independent organizers led many to believe they had some influence over Nintendo's final decision. Twitter user and Melee player @AidenCalvin[3] expressed that he would never attend a Panda event again, accusing Nintendo of using Panda to choke out independent organizations (shown below, left). BTS Smash organizer @LDeeep[4] accused Bunney of "running a protection racket" by implying any independent tournaments would get shut down unless they joined the Panda Cup (shown below, right).


Aiden @aidencalvin vin I will never attend a publicly licensed Nintendo or Panda Circuit event ever again. I will continue to support grassroots locals and majors, unaffiliated with Nintendo, that have been the lifeblood of our scene for 20+ years. This is so extraordinarily disgusting and disheartening. At every stage of Smash's competitive history, Nintendo has impeded our ability to succeed and grow. Story after story has surfaced of them intentionally seeking to stifle our scene, with many more that have unfortunately not seen the light of the public eye. They have done absolutely nothing substantial to help the community at any point. This community is built on the backs of those who have offered their love, free time, and dollars for over two decades now. In my eyes it is no mistake that this is happening at a time when the community has made substantial steps in its own financial stability. While we still struggle compared to other large esports, the businesses established by our TOs are finally reaching a point of success and independence, not just without the help of Nintendo, but in spite of Nintendo's efforts to control them. : It is now abundantly clear that Panda is simply a means to the end of controlling the scene, choking our last drops of independence from us as a community. ... LD @LDeeep ... Alan spent several months basically running a protection racket telling TOs including BTS "it'd be a shame if your event got shutdown for being unlicensed" in an effort to scare them into signing onto the Cup. BTS will absolutely never participate in a circuit led by Alan.

VGBC posted a document announcing they would cancel two of their planned events due to uncertainty about what Nintendo will allow.[8]

Panda's content creators expressed great disappointment with the decision. Commentator TKBreezy, signed with Panda, went on his Twitch stream that night and began applying for jobs (shown below, top), though he said he had been applying for jobs for months before that night.[5][6] Also on November 29th, 2022, Panda player ESAM[7] wrote on his Twitter, "I want to see the most opportunities for smash possible. This is fucked" (shown below, bottom).


Toobu#3161 @Toobu11 TK applying for new jobs on stream LMAO00 skiff - $20 2 Sub Count 337 team Deck $120/$300house.io/bungie/jobs/4597203/ref-hitmarker.net Drum n Bass Radio Deep House Radio - Twitch Chat TKbreezy's Dashbo Brooque Collection Date 14/10 New Points Top Stacks TKBREEZY Website Channels You Follo How did you hear about this job? TweetDeck Monster Hunter Ris... Monster Hunter Ris... Are you legally authorized to work in the US indefinitely for any employer? ▾ analytics for my str..... If applicable and you are not in a Bungie-approved location, would you be willing to relocate within 45 days of a start date? Please select Please select All the information provided on this application is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge By submitting my application, I acknowledge that I have read and understand the Bungie Candidate Privacy Notice Bungie Candidate Privacy Notice Bungle Voluntary Self-identification We ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter Any information that you do provide will be read in a or and confidential file. Bungle utilizes this data to track trends with our studio demographics and to identify potential gaps when creating a diverse and inclusive candidate pool for our positions In addition to this survey, the Bungie Talent Acquisition and People Team will utilize self- identification forms during our recruitment and onboarding cycles and visual identification where legally required or necessary. If hired, you will have the opportunity to voluntarily disclose and update the information collected As set forth in Bungle's Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law Voluntary Veteran Status If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. We request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts. Classification of protected categories is as follows: A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the US military ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was duchamed or leased from active dibe because of a sence.compacted Spectre... (3) Deep... (12) Twit... (1) Latest (22) VGB... 7:58 PM . Nov 29, 2022 Twitter for iPhone Ultimate-Out of ... Ultimate-Out of S.. Latest T... CTRLSOLTV hide the screen you (2) Genshin impact int CRYME219 Latest Job Appli... FINALE CONNA dm me on twitter @tkbreezy when you can drive-G... G ▸ TKBREEZY leaking all yo s--- rn PANDACUP.COM/REG yeah, that's the s--- because unless your youtube and twitch can pop the f--- off then its gon be hard Battle.net : 73°F 40 657 P TET 11/29/20/23

ESAM (Panda) @imESAM I want to see the most opportunities for smash possible. This is f-----. 8:29 PM Nov 29, 2022


Many also made memes, often at Panda's expense. For example, Twitter user @braeden_kb2 posted a Wesley Snipes Crying meme on November 29th about Panda creator Coney, gaining over 800 retweets and 9,600 likes in one day (shown below, left). Parody account @PandaGolbal then posted a meme mocking a typical Panda YouTube thumbnail about the controversy, gaining over 1,200 retweets and 6,900 likes in one day (shown below, right).


Braeden @braeden_kb2 when i have to kill coney in the panda war 6:52 PM Nov 29, 2022 . : WE DID WHAT? SH ST +WORLD TO 2022

Nintendo gave a statement to Kotaku[9] that it had not urged Smash World Tour to cancel the 2022 finals considering the time and player energy that had already been put into the circuit, but Smash World Tour organizers stated this completely contradicted what Nintendo had told them verbally and in writing.

On December 2nd, Nintendo and Panda both released statements alleging that VGBC had canceled the 2022 Smash World Tour of their own volition and were not ordered to by Nintendo, contradicting what VGBC said in their statement. Both statements were thoroughly mocked on social media. Dr. Alan eventually resigned as CEO of Panda.

Dr. Alan's Statement

On December 6th, 2022, Dr. Alan released a 31-page statement refuting the allegations against him. He claimed Smash World Tour intentionally sabotaged its 2022 championships in order to bring Panda down and rally the community behind it. VGBC, the organizers of Smash World Tour, disputed this in a statement of their own, saying they had little to gain and far more to lose by canceling their marquee 2022 event.

Search Interest

External References

[1] Twitter – SmashWorldTour

[2] Medium – SWT Official Statement

[3] Twitter – @aidencalvin

[4] Twitter – LDeeep

[5] Twitter – Toobu11

[6] Twitter – TKBreezy

[7] Twitter – ESAM

[8] VGBC – Cancellation Announcement

[9] Kotaku – Nintendo Shuts Down Smash World Tour, Organizers 'Losing Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars' [Updates]

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