Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa Says Inclusion is Important For Esports
During a recent interview with Nikkei in Japan, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said inclusion is more important for esports than prize pools. Compared to companies like Capcom or Riot Games, Nintendo is considerably absent from funding for Super Smash Bros. competitions at events such as EVO. Nintendo believes that this allows them to have a broader range of people in their competitions rather than the best competitors in the game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch but the GameCube’s Super Smash Bros. Melee is still in the competitive scene too.
“Esports is where players compete on stages while revolving around prize money, and spectators enjoy watching that. It launches one of the amazing appeals of video games,” said Shuntaro Furukawa. “But there is no sense of antagonism. In order to make our company’s games be played by a broad range of people, regardless of experience, gender, or generation, we also want to make our events joinable by a broad range of people. “Being able to have a different world view from other companies, without a large sum of prize money, is our strength.”
Apparently the Smash Bros. Ultimate Evo winner Perez took home $21,180 from a prize pool of $35,300, which was significantly less than the $70,000 Street Fighter V prize pool and even the Samurai Showdown prize pool of $47,000 at the same event. Capcom made a donation of $50,000 to their prize pool while SNK donated $30,000 to theirs while Nintendo hasn’t made such contributions to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate prize pools. Most notably, the gamer who finished eighth in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competition at Evo, Breslau, didn’t earn enough to cover the cost of his hotel room at the venue.
Do you agree with Shuntaro Furukawa’s stance on competitive play? Do you think companies should add to the prize pool of competitions centered around their games? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: VGC