"That's a half-a-million dollar tournament" - Ludwig calls out Nintendo after the company shuts down the Smash World Championship

YouTube streamer Ludwig Ahgren took to his alternate YouTube channel on November 29 to upload a video detailing the events of the Smash World Championship getting canceled.

For those unaware, Nintendo has given the independently run Smash World Tour circuit a notice ruling them out of organizing the upcoming Smash World Tour Championships finals and the entirety of the 2023 tour. The event was scheduled from December 9 to 11 in San Antonio, Texas.

Ludwig gave a concise account of the events following the cancelation of the Smash World Championship and Panda Global's CEO Dr. Alan Bunney's "nefarious" role in it. Speaking about the Championship getting annulled, Ludwig recorded:

"That's a half-a-million dollar tournament!"

(Timestamp: 0:31)

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What happened behind the scenes? Ludwig explains

Essentially, Ludwig recounted that Dr. Alan, the CEO of Panda Global, who ran the Nintendo-backed Panda Cup, went out of his way to approach the individual organizers of the Smash World Tour circuit to make a strong-arm claim regarding the Championship shutting down.

Six minutes into the video, Ludwig explained:

"Alan, the CEO and co-founder of Panda, was going around to different tournaments that were meant to be a part of the circuit, different regional organizers, and saying, 'Hey, just so you guys know, you guys are organizing an event, and it's supposed to be part of the Smash World Tour, I would not personally do that because that event is going to get shut down.'"

At 7:53, he reiterated:

"Alan, the CEO, was going around to event organizers and guaranteeing them the Smash World Tour was gonna fail and that it would be a mistake not to go with the people (Panda Cup) licensed by Nintendo."

The organizers did not accept the proposition due to their trust in the VGBootCamp over the years. In a retort, according to a blog post by Smash World Tour, Dr. Alan insisted on having the broadcasting rights for the tournament.

In the meantime, as Ludwig records, there was hardly any communication between Nintendo and VGBootCamp regarding the events. However, they delivered a notice a day before Thanksgiving that the Smash World Championship was to be rescinded. Around 11:32, Ludwig said:

"There is no longer a way to run Smash events unless they are licensed by Nintendo directly."

Describing Dr. Alan, the streamer exclaimed (12:08):

"He's almost like a video game villain who wants to tear down the world so he can rebuild it for his own cause. He sees this utopia where we have this beautiful circuit, the Panda Cup, the final one true-say where everyone will go to compete and then at the end of the year have the true Super Bowl, and no one else can compete with him..."

He continued:

"But the way he's doing it is by shutting down everybody else along the way, which to me is insane..."

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Community reacts

The gaming community has given its say in the controversial incident. Twitter has been flooded with comments from broadcasters and fans regarding the sudden cancelation of the Smash World Championship. Here are some of them:

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Considering the huge backlash, it remains to be seen if Nintendo will reverse its decision regarding the Smash World Championship.