Said tournament was going to have the largest ever prize pool of $250,000.
Given the company’s aggressive copyright enforcement, this isn’t the first time that Nintendo has forced grassroots competitions using its games to stop operating, having similarly shut down a Super Smash Bros. tournament in 2020. Nintendo also notably ordered Evo — the world’s largest fighting game tournament — to shut down a planned Melee event in 2013 before reversing the decision.
The Smash World Tour said it will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of the shutdown but reassures all attendees of the canceled events that they will be issued full refunds.
More like waving around legal orders against people who comply because they can't afford to challenge them in court. For this and other reasons, fuck Nintendo.