• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

News Nintendo releases guidelines for tournaments hosted for their games

Derachi said:
tbh I sorta get the sponsor thing from Nintendo’s POV. They want 100% control over what brands get associated with their games/characters. They don’t want to see some event where people are playing a Nintendo game next to, for example, alcohol company logos. Easiest for them to just not allow them.
Click to expand...
The sponsor thing is the easiest to understand because they wouldn’t want some sex company either associated with their games.
 
Toad King said:
Any event large enough to need sponsors won't be a "community tournament" under these guidelines and will have their own separate licenses with Nintendo, which is how all the big tournaments currently run AFAIK.
Click to expand...
Lugia667 said:
wouldn't an event that need sponsors be under different guidelines according to Nintendo?
Click to expand...
Many small events rely on sponsorship, it is not just something that large tournaments need. No sponsorship likely means you can't even put the logo of the venue you're running the tournament at on your stream.
 
Dark Cloud said:
The sponsor thing is the easiest to understand because they wouldn’t want some sex company either associated with their games.
Click to expand...
fwiw I had “sex toy company” in there before I softened it to “alcohol company” before posting lmao
 
Derachi said:
tbh I sorta get the sponsor thing from Nintendo’s POV. They want 100% control over what brands get associated with their games/characters. They don’t want to see some event where people are playing a Nintendo game next to, for example, alcohol company logos. Easiest for them to just not allow them.
Click to expand...
Besides that I suspect part of the reason for the sponsorship stuff has to do with the Papa John’s-Summit sponsorship. If you listen to hearsay Nintendo was annoyed that Papa John’s made a deal without evening talking to them. So this is a way to get them to the table so to speak if that were the case.
 
0
Yeah this is pretty bewildering. I get some of the explanations why but if Nintendo itself doesn't have a placeholder for hosting their own large-scale tournaments, this is a bad move from them and very anti-consumer.
 
RumHamRigRunner said:
Yeah this is pretty bewildering. I get some of the explanations why but if Nintendo itself doesn't have a placeholder for hosting their own large-scale tournaments, this is a bad move from them and very anti-consumer.
Click to expand...
Nintendo has hosted several tournaments I think. They just did the Splatoon Championships last month actually
 
Shiba said:
Damn spoken like a true bootlicker. You’ll get toxic people in multiplayer games regardless if it’s competitive or not.

You’re literally playing games that are against other players so of course some are gonna be “tryhards” as a result, especially in Nintendo games like Smash and Splatoon.

There’s also casual play for a reason.
Click to expand...
I'm not a bootlicker. I hate pro gaming in general. Not everything is about corporations.
 
How is the company all about being fun such a fun police sometimes

90c17bf8633efbf0623c81a83b11ec750d33560a.png
 
the next years are going to be so funny seeing the smash community trying to both hate nintendo and also needing to create content on the next switch and next smash game.
 
Maybe I read this wrong, but could charity tournaments now be on the out because their cause could be deemed “political” by Nintendo? Seems like a bad idea. Some of the stuff is good for simple community tournaments in that it protects participants and attendees, but this is bad for any pro level play (which I don’t even define as community). Seems way too strict and out of touch.
 
the only mention of politics is that the prizes can't be political in nature...which doesn't really sound like charity to me
 
0
Kartina said:
you're reading this wrong, a license is needed for all tournaments with over 200 entrants.
Click to expand...
Tournaments that are not permitted by these guidelines include but are not limited to below.

  • For-profit tournaments (these are not permitted under these guidelines, even if they only charge entry fees and admission fees below the amounts specified in these guidelines)
  • Online tournaments that collect admission fees from Spectators.
  • Tournaments that make it a condition of entry in tournaments or viewing tournaments to subscribe to or follow a YouTube channel, an X account, or any other streaming channel or social media account, or subscribe to a paid membership
  • Tournaments in which Participants are paid a performance fee or other expenses.
  • Tournaments that receive goods or money from third parties, such as sponsors.
  • Tournaments involving the sale of food, beverages, or merchandise.
Please note that Nintendo does not currently grant permission for individuals to organize commercial tournaments. We ask for your understanding.
Click to expand...
From the FAQ. Is there a third class called Commercial Tournaments? Or is this talking about them on the last line.

Unless it means you need an organization to do so
 
Not at all shocked after how the panda situation happened. Surprised it didnt happen sooner in fact.

Japan having the guidelines be stricter is even less of a surprise: that’s relatively normal over there (akin to Vtubers there needing to ask companies for permission to stream games)
 
SeafoamGaming said:
Not at all shocked after how the panda situation happened. Surprised it didnt happen sooner in fact.

Japan having the guidelines be stricter is even less of a surprise: that’s relatively normal over there (akin to Vtubers there needing to ask companies for permission to stream games)
Click to expand...

Vtuber don’t need to ask companies for permission to stream game. “Company” vtubers need to ask because they’re technically a corporation…

Otherwise, if you’re just individual (vtuber, youtuber), just follow their guidelines then you don’t need to ask permission.
 
0
Pillydillsy said:
Square will barely market games and set high expectations. Nintendo will have a golden opportunity to get into E-sports on the table, and decide for literally no reason to harass the community without end
Click to expand...
"Getting into esports", if we're looking at how Capcom or ArcSys or Activision are in it, means spending money to manage/support/promote esports leagues/pro tours, including the legal and functional aspects that entails beyond the idea of "Is there prize money?"
 
Barely Able said:
Maybe I read this wrong, but could charity tournaments now be on the out because their cause could be deemed “political” by Nintendo? Seems like a bad idea. Some of the stuff is good for simple community tournaments in that it protects participants and attendees, but this is bad for any pro level play (which I don’t even define as community). Seems way too strict and out of touch.
Click to expand...
I see your point, but gaming is unfortunately a gateway for a lot of right wing political indoctrination, and I don’t disagree with leaving some wiggle room on being able to shut down potential problematic associations when it crops up.
 
Hailinel said:
"Getting into esports", if we're looking at how Capcom or ArcSys or Activision are in it, means spending money to manage/support/promote esports leagues/pro tours, including the legal and functional aspects that entails beyond the idea of "Is there prize money?"
Click to expand...
I meant they have games (splatoon, smash) that already have competitive scenes and could be good avenues to get into esports. Nintendo has recently been pushing the idea of spreading brands out, and esports is a great way to do this. By constantly antagonizing the competitive community for these games, Nintendo ruins any potential relationship and leaves a good opportunity far harder to achieve
 
Pillydillsy said:
I meant they have games (splatoon, smash) that already have competitive scenes and could be good avenues to get into esports. Nintendo has recently been pushing the idea of spreading brands out, and esports is a great way to do this. By constantly antagonizing the competitive community for these games, Nintendo ruins any potential relationship and leaves a good opportunity far harder to achieve
Click to expand...
Nintendo has been adamant for many, many years that they are not concerned about Smash's competitive scene. They'll partner with it as far as some marketing events, sure, but they don't see it as a competitive-first series.
 
Pillydillsy said:
Square will barely market games and set high expectations. Nintendo will have a golden opportunity to get into E-sports on the table, and decide for literally no reason to harass the community without end
Click to expand...
I mean…no. E-sports don’t tend to make money. Granted, most sports don’t actually make money asides from the biggest ones. And while Nintendo could reach that, that’s a risk they’re probably not willing to spend the capital on.

I think these rules are draconian and they need to relax their rules and host official tournaments but let’s not pretend that esports is some hidden goldmine with little effort needed to make bank. They’re a money sink whose real purpose is to get people into the game/game’s ecosystem, something many of Nintendo’s games don’t actually need.
 
Hailinel said:
Nintendo has been adamant for many, many years that they are not concerned about Smash's competitive scene. They'll partner with it as far as some marketing events, sure, but they don't see it as a competitive-first series.
Click to expand...
Im not exactly an expert in these matters, so forgive my ignorance, but I feel like the publicity is more important to esports companies then the esports themselves. Sure they may not make money, but they would get tons of people watching them and seeing their games. Once again, I’m not an expert on this front, but that’s what I always thought
 
WestEgg said:
I see your point, but gaming is unfortunately a gateway for a lot of right wing political indoctrination, and I don’t disagree with leaving some wiggle room on being able to shut down potential problematic associations when it crops up.
Click to expand...
Was more thinking about social or humanitarian causes that might be associated with some political entity and then people complaining to Nintendo. Now I don’t think they would pursue anything with those, but still a possibility. I am fine with the blanket ban on politician and initiative sponsors using tournaments to get donations for campaigning.
 
0
Pillydillsy said:
Im not exactly an expert in these matters, so forgive my ignorance, but I feel like the publicity is more important to esports companies then the esports themselves. Sure they may not make money, but they would get tons of people watching them and seeing their games. Once again, I’m not an expert on this front, but that’s what I always thought
Click to expand...
Smash Ultimate is the best-selling fighting game in the history of Planet Earth. They don't need esports help to sell the game.
 


Alex Jebailey (TO of one of the biggest annual FGC tournaments) seems to not think things are as doom and gloom as other people think.
 
Pillydillsy said:
Im not exactly an expert in these matters, so forgive my ignorance, but I feel like the publicity is more important to esports companies then the esports themselves. Sure they may not make money, but they would get tons of people watching them and seeing their games. Once again, I’m not an expert on this front, but that’s what I always thought
Click to expand...
In addition to the fact that Smash is already on top sales wise, there's also the fact that competitive Smash tournaments tend not to be...represented of Smash as a whole. While this is complete speculation, I do think the fact that so many stages and all items are just outright banned in tournaments tend to not be favorable to Nintendo. Hell, Splatoon tournaments still use Turf War for the round 1 and elimination portions, which as any fan can tell you, is a terrible way to do this as Turf War only matter in a competitive setting during the last 15 seconds.

What people SHOULD focus on is the fact that a better Nintendo ran system would help mitigate the large controversies that plague the smash community. The community for both Smash and Splatoon does not have the manpower nor the emotional support needed to handle the safety precautions needed to protect its community against predators of the worst kind. An official backed tournament setting with regulations and manpower to support victims and ban predators would be a far better boon to the community. By forcing the system to remain grassroots, it allows predators to hide as every tournament organizer is forced to just trust that everyone is safe if they cannot have a document showing the history of its attendees.
 
xaszatm said:
What people SHOULD focus on is the fact that a better Nintendo ran system would help mitigate the large controversies that plague the smash community. The community for both Smash and Splatoon does not have the manpower nor the emotional support needed to handle the safety precautions needed to protect its community against predators of the worst kind. An official backed tournament setting with regulations and manpower to support victims and ban predators would be a far better boon to the community. By forcing the system to remain grassroots, it allows predators to hide as every tournament organizer is forced to just trust that everyone is safe if they cannot have a document showing the history of its attendees.
Click to expand...
Ideally yes, but nothing about this set of rule changes has anything to do with player safety.
 
xaszatm said:
In addition to the fact that Smash is already on top sales wise, there's also the fact that competitive Smash tournaments tend not to be...represented of Smash as a whole. While this is complete speculation, I do think the fact that so many stages and all items are just outright banned in tournaments tend to not be favorable to Nintendo. Hell, Splatoon tournaments still use Turf War for the round 1 and elimination portions, which as any fan can tell you, is a terrible way to do this as Turf War only matter in a competitive setting during the last 15 seconds.

What people SHOULD focus on is the fact that a better Nintendo ran system would help mitigate the large controversies that plague the smash community. The community for both Smash and Splatoon does not have the manpower nor the emotional support needed to handle the safety precautions needed to protect its community against predators of the worst kind. An official backed tournament setting with regulations and manpower to support victims and ban predators would be a far better boon to the community. By forcing the system to remain grassroots, it allows predators to hide as every tournament organizer is forced to just trust that everyone is safe if they cannot have a document showing the history of its attendees.
Click to expand...
Predators can hide everywhere even in company backed & sponsored settings as we have plenty of examples over the years both real & digital; Nintendo worked with quite a few of them. Being grassroots was not the reason predators were allowed to thrive within the community.
 
dyle said:
Ideally yes, but nothing about this set of rule changes has anything to do with player safety.
Click to expand...
Tentacle-tropes said:
Predators can hide everywhere even in company backed & sponsored settings as we have plenty of examples over the years both real & digital; Nintendo worked with quite a few of them. Being grassroots was not the reason predators were allowed to thrive within the community.
Click to expand...
Yes, those current rules do nothing to help with the issue. But what I'm talking about is that a more official circuit could allow for a better response and handling of the situation. Because our current one revolves around draining the mental health of volunteers.
 
I don’t care about the Smash competitive scene anymore. Stop watching long ago and whatnot. So can’t say how’s it’s been lately.

But I am interested in seeing what happens when a new Smash game is announced and then release.

Not the effects on sales. I don’t think nothing happen there, will still sales incredibly well and I can’t see anything sales “lost” lol. But the enthusiastic crowed and whatnot during announcements and release. And how Nintendo does their events.

Granted. I think in the end. It might just be Smash competitive scene just becomes smaller (perhaps much smaller). It never really had any money. Just a lot of passionate people playing a game they like.
 
0
Honestly, I'm glad TPC handles comp Pokemon cause that community getting fucked over would be an actual tragedy
 
0
xaszatm said:
Yes, those current rules do nothing to help with the issue. But what I'm talking about is that a more official circuit could allow for a better response and handling of the situation. Because our current one revolves around draining the mental health of volunteers.
Click to expand...
It goes without saying that the mental health of people will be drained regardless of if they are tenured or not. While an official circuit could prompt better response/handling, it could also just fail: see Deshaun Watson, current qb of the Cleavand Browns, for an example of this.
 
0




So from what I got from these 2 tweets and CEO Gaming's Jebailey (the guy who got linked above) was... what Nintendo did is not exactly "Nintendo's BS" that some people make it seem to be and a lot of games have done it to begin streamlining the process (?) by giving a "blanket statement" to a tons of small non-profits tournament (I thought it basically made them avoid unnecessary legal trouble with what might happen at these events), so they can focus and keep track on licensing bigger (either middle or big size) tournament?

But in Jebailey's words, we still need to wait for the application process to see how it go.
 
SNP said:




So from what I got from these 2 tweets and CEO Gaming's Jebailey (the guy who got linked above) was... what Nintendo did is not exactly "Nintendo's BS" that some people make it seem to be and a lot of games have done it to begin streamlining the process (?) by giving a "blanket statement" to a tons of small non-profits tournament (I thought it basically made them avoid unnecessary legal trouble with what might happen at these events), so they can focus and keep track on licensing bigger (either middle or big size) tournament?

But in Jebailey's words, we still need to wait for the application process to see how it go.
Click to expand...

Sorry thought you were linking the Tweet
I was being dumb :p
 
Last edited:
0
Pillydillsy said:
Square will barely market games and set high expectations. Nintendo will have a golden opportunity to get into E-sports on the table, and decide for literally no reason to harass the community without end
Click to expand...
I was more referencing the shot in the foot meme
 
0
Lucifer said:
Yikes, what's the point of tournaments if there's no money involved.
Click to expand...

the guideline is for non-profit small-scale tournaments... if people want to host bigger tournaments or for-profit tournaments (or both) then they gonna have a different application process that organizers can get the license from.
 
0
It doesn't seem like any of these guidelines will materially affect many grassroots events given their low prize pools/entrants, and in terms of the major events if Jebailey is to be trusted (who made a much more comprehensive video here) this could feasibly alleviate the license application process which most of these majors would have already had to procure before these guidelines were put out in the open. The Splatoon T.O. guild seem particularly unfazed by this news, and the Smash scene in my area seem pretty sure none of this will affect our locals or our regionals in any meaningful way.

I'm not worried at the moment, even if Nintendo doesn't exactly earn a lot of benefit of doubt. It admittedly feels spookier because we get a blanket statement from a company who's usually backward on this stuff but this seems like it's pretty standard stuff, it's gonna depend on how smooth the licensing application process is like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom