Why competitive Smash is not dead yet – Smash Summit 11

The professional Smash scene had to endure some difficult years, but with Smash Summer 11 ahead of us, it’s clear the game and the community are far from dead.

Smash Summit 11 will be held from 15 to 19 July and is one of the single biggest Smash tournaments, especially in terms of prize money, we’ll get to see this year. With some big names attending in the form of Hungrybox, Mango, Zain, aMSa and more, it’s poised to be a great return to offline competition. However, Smash went through a difficult time in the past couple years.

Nintendo isn’t helping

The competitive Smash scene is one of the oldest ones out there, with people competing over an entire generation. Despite all this, Nintendo has said in the past that they’re not looking to fund tournaments. The president of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa told Kotaku in an interview that “our games can be widely enjoyed by anyone regardless of experience, gender, or age, we want to be able to participate in a wide range of different events. Our strength, what differentiates us from other companies, is this different worldview, not an amount of prize money.”

The games and the competitive scene that goes with it are still widely enjoyed, with some of the best of the best even making a career out of it (albeit some do it through streaming on platforms such as Twitch), the lack of support from Nintendo can’t help but hurt. It’s not all bad however as Nintendo has helped out tournaments with at least some support, just not when it comes to prize money. Them cracking down on mods and things like Slippy hasn’t helped things along either.

All about dedication

The fact that the competitive smash scene is alive and breathing is thanks to its dedicated players and fans, most of the time people who’ve been here since the beginning. It’s thanks to them that new players and new competitors are finding their way to the game and are willing to compete, even if Nintendo is largely refusing to help out. It’s no Fortnite or CS:GO, but the community is tight-knit and supportive, which has gone a long way when it comes to the longevity of the scene.

If anything shows this, it’s Beyond the Summit’s Smash Summit 11, which is the first tournament in the history of Super Smash Bros. to have ever reached a prize pool larger than $100,000. The biggest part about this story is that the majority of the prize pool was crowdfunded by fans and players who want to see the scene succeed, resulting in an amazing $140,000 prize pool.

For those interested in watching this historic event for the Smash community, you’ll be able to tune in to Beyond The Summit starting July 15, when the event is scheduled to kick off.

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Image Credits: Nintendo
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