A highly prominent player in the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene has called on Nintendo to begin supporting tournaments. Juan ‘Hungrybox’ DeBiedma claimed victory at this weekend’s Smash Summit 9. Hungrybox used his winning speech as an opportunity to plead with Nintendo and sponsors to begin supporting the game. DeBiedma began his speech by shouting out several players, telling companies to sponsor them. He then turned his attention to “anyone at Nintendo corporate.”
“I know this is probably a shot in the dark,” DeBiedma started off, “but I’m gonna try anyway.” He continues on to say,
“I really do wish if anyone from Nintendo corporate is watching right now, if anyone’s seeing the amount of excitement these sets can get and everything that goes with it. Just give Melee a chance, Even if it’s just Ultimate, support the Ultimate scene, support the Smash scene in general.”
A Shot in the Dark
DeBiedma notes the passion and finances that the Smash community put into the scene, saying, “we do it all grassroots.” DeBiedma compares Smash to other competitive scenes such as Fornite and Street Fighter’s Capcom Cup. “Nintendo, I need to say, I love you guys, but you are the only one not putting resources into the scene. Look at Capcom Cup…look at every other game. Look at Fornite.”
Both Epic Games and Capcom have poured finances into their competitive scenes. The 2019 Capcom Cup saw a $250,000 first-place prize. The Fortnite World Cup gave away a staggering $3m to its top winner. Fellow fighting-game giant Tekken also receives financial support from developer and publisher Bandai Namco.
The Smash community has a well-established scene for the best part of 20 years. Smash Ultimate broke viewership records at EVO 2019. However, Nintendo has famously shied away from the competitive scene. Director Masahiro Sakurai has previously expressed no desire to cater to the Smash series to competitive players.
DeBiedma closes out his speech by praising the community to Nintendo. “The culture and the appreciation that you guys would receive would be bar none unlike any you’ve received.”
You can view DeBiedma’s full speech down below. Do you think Nintendo should begin supporting the Smash Bros. competitive scene? Let us know in the comments below!
