BoldBoldA few days back, the team behind the Evolution Championship Series, more commonly referred to as Evo, revealed that Nintendo had blocked Smash Bros. from being a playable title at the upcoming Evo 2022 event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Smash Bros. is an absolutely HUGE part of the Evo scene, and thousands were disappointed to learn of Nintendo’s decision. While Nintendo hasn’t commented on why they pulled Evo support, some speculation from two excellent sources may provide clues.

Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang, former Nintendo employees/hosts of Nintendo Minute, have since moved on to host their own Kit & Krysta Podcast. While the duo might not have the most up-to-date info on Nintendo’s latest moves, their combined 30 years spent working at Nintendo certainly gives them a level of insight we don’t usually get.

In a recent episode of the Kit & Krysta Podcast, the duo was asked about Nintendo’s Evo decision. Again, Kit and Krysta haven’t received any official word from Nintendo as to why the decision was made, but they’re more than willing to take some educated guesses.

According to the pair, Nintendo’s potential reasons for ditching Evo are threefold. First, Sony purchased the rights to the Evo brand not too long ago, which Nintendo might view as a conflict of interest, and a relationship they’re not willing to foster. Second, the fan-run competitive Smash scene has been embroiled in a number of high-profile scandals over the years, and Nintendo no doubt wants to steer clear of them. Third, Nintendo has already announced plans for a Smash Bros. tournament through a partnership with Panda Global.

It’s unlikely Nintendo will ever share a full, detailed statement on why they’re no longer partnering with Evo, but with insider knowledge from the likes of Kit and Krysta, we at least have some potential answers.

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Comments (9)

fish

2y ago

I love this snippet from their podcast, makes me want to go listen to hear what their full comments are! The second I find the most compelling, the Smash competitive scene is a huge embarrassment with tons of big names having really disgusting scandals.


joeshabadoo

2y ago

Yea, while the Sony buy-out and the Panda Global commitment are the strongest and most logical reasons, Japan and NoA are both happy to have reason to distance themselves from the more independently functioning core of Smash’s competitive scene. Can’t blame them


swingrocket

2y ago

Doesn’t surprise me all that much. Even without these good reasons Nintendo never really seemed to like the Smash fan tournament scene (because they can’t stop playing Melee xD).


linkedtriforce

2y ago

Yeah, these reasons totally make sense. I’ve been loving the Kit & Krysta podcast so far! Always really enjoyed these two on Nintendo Minute, and it’s really cool to see them being able to talk more freely about the whole video game industry in general, and they’re able to just talk more honestly about their feelings on Nintendo now that they no longer represent them.

P.S. My first comment on the new site! So great to be back! 😃

Edited 1 time

frimbot

2y ago

Wow… how did they get the dark saber???


fatmanonice2

2y ago

It kind of kills me that they announced the Panda Global partnership in November and nothing has come of it yet. Granted, they're probably waiting until the new fiscal year to talk about it more but it would have been nice to have at least a vague idea on what they were planning on doing at this point.


reynard

2y ago

Oh, Sony bought Evo? :/


kingbroly

2y ago

I think the reason was a lack of licensing with their Panda Tour or Melee/Ultimate. EVO and Panda probably couldn't come to terms, and that's why no EVO. Smash will likely be fine. EVO on the other hand has a hill to climb after what happened with former ownership.


paulgalenetwork

2y ago

This third podcast was a lot of fun!