Ninja Wanted To Add $500K To Smash EVO 2019 Prize Pool, But Was Apparently “Ghosted” By Nintendo

The Super Smash Bros. competitive scene has a huge following, but Nintendo’s relationship with this part of the community and fighting game tournaments, in general, hasn’t always been the best. Now adding to this bumpy history is a new story this time from the famous Twitch Streamer and Fortnite player Ninja.

In 2018, Ninja published a tweet about how he was “cooking up” something for the fighting and Smash Bros. community. Nothing ever happened and apparently, it’s all “on Nintendo”. He revealed what exactly happened behind the scenes during a recent poker stream, hosted by streamer and YouTuber Ludwig.

Ninja’s plan was to drop an extra $500k of money into the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate prize pool at EVO 2019 to show his support for the game’s competitive scene, but Nintendo apparently “ghosted” him, and that was that. Here’s exactly what he had to say (thanks, EventHubs) along with a video:

“That was on Nintendo and not me… It’s 100% absolutely the case. All I wanted to do was create a massive tournament and juice Evo like $500K, but I wanted to get Nintendo’s permission, and they just ghosted us.”

Keep in mind, Ninja is the one making these claims here. In saying this, it wouldn’t be all that surprising considering the history Nintendo has had with the Smash competitive scene. Most recently, Nintendo ended up partnering with Panda Global for an official Super Smash Bros. tournament.

What do you think about Ninja’s story? Leave your own thoughts down below.