EVO 2022 pulled Smash Bros from the competitive title roster

Fighting Games
February 28, 2022
Jordan Ashley

Super Smash Bros has been one of the best fighting games with a very active esports community for some time. In various incarnations, Smash Bros tournaments have been some of the most popular across the entire genre. This year though, Smash is going to be missing from a pretty major event that it has typically had a strong relationship with.

The news has broken that Smash EVO 2022 is canceled. This is why the game’s been withdrawn and what it means for the future of the title’s competitive side.

SMASH EVO 2022

EVO announcement regarding Super Smash Bros.

Smash pulled from EVO 2022

This week the news broke that Smash EVO 2022 won’t be taking place. The fighting game has historically been a big part of EVO, but it has had plenty of hiccups. Nintendo has always been protective about Smash and prone to removing it from events. Last year also saw a Smash-less EVO, as its netcode wasn’t up to the standard required for an online tournament.

At first, it wasn’t entirely clear what was responsible for Smash EVO 2022 being canceled. However, Nintendo’s past actions and Sony’s purchase of the tournament did give us some clues to its cancellation. The fighting game event has since been clarified with a statement on Twitter that pretty directly blames Nintendo for withdrawing Smash Bros from EVO.

Many fans are upset by the loss and point to the incident being yet another example of Nintendo sabotaging the esports community built entirely by fans. However, this particular incident doesn’t seem as egregious as their past cancellations. This one has a bit more of an explanation, with Nintendo naturally being disinclined to show their games off at the event now owned by one of their closest competitors. Nintendo is also in the process of launching its own Smash Bros esports events.

Fans are naturally disappointed by this news. It is a shame to see Smash Bros EVO 2022 canceled and the game no longer up on the roster with the other major fighting games.

Ludwig’s Smash Tournaments

Popular Smash Bros streamer Ludwig has made some hints and promises this might cheer Smash fans up after the recent news. The streamer is probably the most popular content creator to come out of Smash Bros in recent years.

He has previously hosted other Smash tournaments. Including one on January 31st for Melee that grabbed a lot of attention for the game. He’s currently planning to host a tournament with a prize pool of over $1 million. This will feature both Smash Bros Ultimate and Melee. While it doesn’t quite even out the spectacle of EVO, it is definitely something to look forward to. A prize pool that big would at least be something big to watch for both games of Smash Bros competitively.

He tweeted this about the news:

The news of Smash Bros EVO 2022 being canceled was definitely a hit against the community. While there are some reasons this time around, it is still disappointing to see Nintendo continues to treat their competitive community this way. Change at EVO was bound to be a result of Sony’s acquisition though, we’ll have to see how their roster of fighting games changes as times go on.