Former Nintendo Employee Claims He Saved The Company From Repeated "EVO Embarrassment"

@Royalblues Hasn't Nintendo consistently said in the past that they don't view Sony and Microsoft as direct competitors? I don't think them avoiding EVO has all that much to do with the Sony connection but I could be wrong.

Yeah, admittedly, EVO has basically nothing of interest anymore... I'm assuming FighterZ will be there at least, so that's one thing I'd like to watch. Maaaaybe I might watch KoF XV but that's it.

@Tourtus I think fundamentally Nintendo just has a crazy big stick up their butt about IP control.

@Tourtus Nintendo never care about eSports, they also don't care if you're the absolute best player in the world or best content creator in the world or if you're the best game creator in the world or the most loyal fanboy in the world. They only care if you're buying their stuff.

As usual Sony being a control freak over an entire videogame genre. And for what? They don't even promote fighing games they just don't want to competitors to get them too. Boycott Sony if you want to save the fighting games genre.

@Serpenterror You are wrong though. Nintendo developers are on average better paid than Sony developers and Nintendo executives are on average less paid than Sony executives. Don't pretend you're fighing big bad capitalism while you're defending the worst megacorp of the industry.

@Serpenterror If Nintendo hates esports then why do they host their own tournaments now? They've done it for Smash Bros. and Splatoon 2.

@DiggleDog I think that's true but I don't think officially supporting their games at competitions makes them lose that control.

Sad that those good intentions inadvertently created the environment which led to all that harassment and abuse in the Smash evo scene.

I think that Nintendo's arm's length relationship with esports is down to them making a marketing judgement, with them wanting to preserve the accessible, low barrier to entry image of their brand. As well as avoiding getting a bad rep among parents who think their son or daughter will quit school to play Splatoon professionally if they buy it for them.

I think their calculus is that tournaments that they don't control and the scandals that have existed around them run a risk of damaging their brand. Anything that makes Nintendo seem less wholesome is bad for the bottom line.

I always hear the Kit and Krista Podcast. It gives a good insight on what they did in Nintendo, which was a lot more than being the Nintendo Minute guys, this being a good example of that.

@Raffles Opinions that you can smell before you even read them

@Raffles You have to really like street fighter and really hate smash to come to that conclusion

@OnlyItsMeReid

Pretty much

I think Street Fighter is the best fighting game series and there is no close second.

As a huge Nintendo fan I wanted to like Smash, I try and like every one of them, but ultimately it's just a casual party game, not really a fighting game at all. It's so random and messy, with none of the precision that makes fighting games so good and compelling.

@Raffles Just turn off items and choose an omega stage if you want it to feel like a fighting game. Personally I feel like Smash Ultimate is better than every Street Fighter game combined because I hate performing what are in my opinion tedious combos. I get that there's a fighting series for everyone out there though

@Tourtus there is a difference of not viewing Sony as a direct competitor because of different demographic appeals and straight up helping a rival company sponsored event like Evo without nothing for Nintendo to gain from it unlike Sony.

Smash games were big enough that they never needed Evo anyway.

Let's just not forget that Nintendo pulled out before Sony acquisition, just after the EVO scandal.

Kit and Krysta tales from here on out. Never liked those two.

Well, Smash is a platform brawler, not a fighting game, so taking it out of a fighting game tournament just makes sense.

It sucks but at least Smash is big enough it doesn't need evo anyways.

@Royalblues It's nothing to do with Sony owning EVO. Nintedo pulled out of fighting game stuff after a wave of sexual assault allegations in the community in 2020, including a very serious underage incident involving the founder of EVO.

@SpaceboyScreams Let me guess, you're unable to do a fireball or SRK from the right side, and you're 0-100 in Street Fighter matches?

@Raffles FGC people try to not talk ***** about Smash challenge (Impossible)

@LXP8 Sure. I suppose one man's tedium is another man's delight. I find strategy games and turn based battles the most tedious thing in the world, but evidently they have a huge fanbase, a lot of people love them.

The "tedious" combos you describe are kind of what I love about fighting games, particularly Street Fighter. The more dumbed down fighting games get, the more boring they become imo. It's why Mortal Kombat and Tekken have always played second fiddle to Street Fighter, they are too button mashery, without the precision that makes Street Fighter so good and satisfying. And one of the reasons why SF5 is boring is I think it lost a step when they tried to dumb it down a bit. Give me SF4's FADC combos and 1 frame links anyday. SF4 could be frustrating, but ultimately is just so much better and more rewarding than any other fighting game I've played.

I do really like Virtua Fighter and Killer Instinct though. KI is kind of like a less technical Street Fighter on steroids, but it's really, really good. I hope they make a sequel.

@glaemay Dude just say you hate Sony. That way it would keep others from calling you a fanboy. At least we would know that you not liking them would make sense.

Btw, Sony has the most fighters out of the big 3. No one is going to boycott Sony for that at least. For the 70 game remasters and such....hell yeah!

only Playstation games allowed

I'm honestly wondering what Kit was up to during 2020... that REALLY wasn't a pleasant year for Melee players (I was very much against the protesting in Splatoon 2 though), let me get that straight.

Even without even Smash Bros. the lineup of games is very strong. And if I'm being honest, Smash Bros. often isn't exciting to watch.

Looking forward to these for sure:

Street Fighter 5
Fighter Z
Skullgirls
Granblue Fantasy Versus

So cool that Skullgirls is there. I suck at it a bit less than mvc3 but it's one of my fav fighters ever and renewed support makes me happy for it.

@glaemay EVO itself promotes fighting games. People watch and attend it, and some of them get interested in the games they’re watching. Which can result in more sales for the games as well as some growth for the community. By owning and running EVO, Sony are promoting fighting games.

@glaemay Sony aren’t the worst megacorp in the industry. That would be Microsoft, who are a much larger company. A company that is also going around buying up major game publishers and developers.

Looking forward to Skullgirls!

@LordPieFace Yeah It's like why Nintendo erred towards those Nintendo invitational championships they ran with pre-selected entrants.

I never saw the sense of entrusting part of one of their biggest game's public presence in the hands of a bunch of unvetted weirdos whose only qualification is that they like the game or genre.

You'd have to be pretty naive to trust some random FGC guys to actually weed out sex pests and predators from events.

Nintendo has a strange relationship for sure with esports but then tere was the evo scandals and all thos competitive smash bros scandals . Why would they get involved It's not like they need to it to sell Smash or any of there games really.

I think it's a combo (pun entirely intended) of what many here have commented, such as Rosalinho talking Nintendo having an easy low-bar entry to some of their titles like Smash, and Splatoon, and mostly everyone else mentioning all the fighting game scene scandals, especially Smash. Nintendo definitely doesn't want that association. That's why they do their own, controlled competitions.

Thank you Kit.