YouTuber Ludwig Swoops In To Save Smash Scene With Tournament Announcement

After the shocking cancelation of Smash World Tour, the Super Smash Bros tournament scene was somewhat in shambles, with many prominent figures in the community swearing off going to tournaments again and calling out Nintendo and Panda based on their past reticence to support gaming tournaments making people think they were at fault.

The upcoming Smash World Tour Championships and the entirety of the 2023 Smash World Tour must be cancelled.

Full Story: https://t.co/3ro3q7rr4h pic.twitter.com/Gcgcgakdvp

— Smash World Tour 2022 (@SmashWorldTour) November 29, 2022

If you're unfamiliar with the ongoing controversy, the drama began on Tuesday when the organizer Panda suddenly revealed that its upcoming world tour championship and the entirety of next year's world tour "must be canceled," unsurprisingly creating a storm of backlash as fans and players took to the web to express their anger.

breaking news: my brand new youtube channel was taken down in the past hour

it had one video uploaded which WAS critical of panda and alan in the smash world tour situation BUT ALSO preached a message of peace, forgiveness, and nonviolence

trying to figure out what happened

— Bobby Scar (@bobbyscar) December 2, 2022

Panda cup prize 100k

Smash world tour what it was supposed to be 320k+

Don’t let anyone forget what we are losing out on as a community because of Nintendo and panda.

— Viri (@ViriROB) November 29, 2022

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. pic.twitter.com/62cp4HHXiY

— Aiden (@aidencalvin) November 29, 2022

With an official word from Nintendo, blame then shifted onto Panda, which has purportedly been an antagonist in the past when it came to community events that weren't directly supervised by the company.

After two days, Panda released an official statement earlier today, which the community did not feel was adequate in explaining the situation with the world tour and increased the backlash the company currently faces.

pic.twitter.com/KmCiKddaqh

— Panda (@PandaGlobal) December 2, 2022

"Panda Global will continue to be a key partner".. this is truly shocking to me given that Panda Global is KNOWN to be an anti-community entity.

Maybe the statement writers were unaware but the community has chosen not to support events hostile to the community (i.e. Panda). https://t.co/OBwCWusBra

— Bobby Scar (@bobbyscar) December 2, 2022

i think it’s really cool how smash world tour specifically stated to NOT drag panda employees into this situation, but panda dragged them into it themselves in their first fucking paragraph as a token to garner sympathy

incredibly awesome of them.

— kokiri ! (@sleepykokiri) December 2, 2022

Yucky response, actually just dropped a nothing sandwich after two days. Don’t really see how Panda moves on from this https://t.co/CgZvggW1VW

— Charlie (@MoistCr1TiKaL) December 2, 2022

With much of the community down and out about this unfortunate turn of events, the YouTube gaming partner and multiple-time tournament organizer Ludwig Ahgren announced a surprise tournament to try and raise money for further tournaments in 2023.

In light of Panda/Nintendos lackluster response I’m happy to announce

🎉The Scuffed World Tour🎉

A one day melee/ultimate event

Sunday 12/18

Featuring the 8 highest placing SWT competitors

All with the goal to raise money for VGBC

See you there :)

— ludwig (@LudwigAhgren) December 2, 2022

Adding onto the event (dubbed "The Scuffed World Tour") is a $50,000 prize pool, as well as an offer to fly out top-level Smash players to be able to compete, marking yet another instance in a continuing trend where community-focused events are somewhat taking the place of official company ones.

Naturally with so much vitriol surrounding the scene, many in the Smash community responded positively to the news as word continues to spread.

Since Panda released their statement Hbox, Ginger, Bbatts and Fatality have all announced total Panda boycotts, MKLeo has said he won’t be going to any events for the rest of the year, and Ludwig scheduled a tournament on the same day as the Panda Cup.

— Sweepers | RocknRocknrolli (@RocknRocknrolli) December 2, 2022

This is the good news I was talking about on stream 2 days ago… iykyk

Huge shoutouts to Ludwig and Aiden for carrying the Smash community behind their back even in times like these 🙏 https://t.co/g8RLWLA9NB

— Bandits | Sonix (@UltimateSonix) December 2, 2022