"Nintendo just never got back to us": Ninja's Smash Bros EVO bonus was turned down by the Mario publisher

Popular streamer Ninja has alleged that Nintendo turned down his generous offer of helping out with $500,000 at EVO. While appearing on a livestream hosted on the YouTube channel Hustler Casino Live, the iconic Twitch personality talked about an incident that happened between him and the popular Japanese video game company.

For context, EVO is an annual fighting game tournament. In the tournament, popular publishers host their biggest fighting games for players to compete in and offer a hefty prize pool for winners. Featured franchises that have often made appearances in the tournament include Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and of course, the Super Smash Bros series.

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Nintendo allegedly gave Ninja the cold shoulder despite his humble gesture

Ninja offered $500,000 to the gaming giant to bolster the prize pool for Smash Bros a few years ago. This popular platform fighter series is one of the best-selling fighting games out there with a massive following, despite being a single-platform franchise. However, Nintendo never responded to his offer. Speaking to Smash Bros influencer Ludwig Ahgren in the video and to quote:

“That was on Nintendo, not me. I literally wanted to juice Evo [by] $500k, and they just ghosted us. I know I get memed about it all the time, but at the end of the day, I sat there in front of my team and I was like, ‘I want to make this happen, big money’ and Nintendo just never got back to us."

The deal was likely proposed around 2018 as that is when Ninja teased something exciting for the Smash Bros community. However, nothing came of that, possibly due to the publisher's lack of interest. He did add that they were interested a minute, but ignored him once his Tweet was out there.

Ninja also mentioned that his love and appreciation for the fighting game community led him to make this decision.

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Nintendo's behavior isn't surprising

Despite how popular their games are, the publisher has never been particularly chummy with their fans. Especially when it comes to third party competitive scenes. The recent shocker was when the company unveiled that Smash Bros Ultimate would not feature at this year's EVO, which upset many fans.

While the publisher has invested in their own champioships, it is not enough to quell the sting of their recent actions. Perhaps the future holds something brighter for Smash fans.

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Which is the latest Super Smash Bros game?

Smash Bros Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch, featuring over 90 characters (including DLC) is the best-selling fighting game so far in U.S. history. It features not just iconic characters from the publisher's first-party catalog but also popular third-party ones. Fan favorite characters like Mario, Link and Donkey Kong can duke it out against big names like Cloud Strife, Steve (Minecraft) and Joker (Persona 5). It is a solid fighting game that can be really fun at social events like parties. It supports up to 8 players, including local gameplay.