Mentioned in this article Games: Super Smash Bros.

Smash tournament Frostbite 2019 has partnered with gaming headset brand SteelSeries.

SteelSeries will supply the tournament with over 150 headsets.

Most fighting game tournament hardware deals provide a much smaller number of products for use on the event’s main stage.

Frostbite Events LLC has named SteelSeries as the official headset provider for its upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament Frostbite 2019. The gaming hardware brand will provide headsets for all tournament stations at the event, making it a substantial, somewhat unique product partnership. Financial terms were not disclosed.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“If you look at the industry, you see a lot of headphone sponsors, and they’re mostly on the stage.”[/perfectpullquote]

The tournament will have over 1.5K attendees, most of whom will compete in the tournament. In order to keep the event running on time, the organizers will need to utilize a large number of tournament stations (known as “setups” in the fighting game community). Each setup will require at least two headsets – one for each competitor. Frostbite event director Alex “Vayseth” Varga told The Esports Observer that SteelSeries has agreed to provide the tournament with over 150 of its Arctis 3 headsets on loan (meaning they get to use them but have to give them back to the company when the tournament is over) to ensure that every setup has headsets available.

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The scope of this deal is relatively unprecedented in fighting game esports, Frostbite event director Alex “Vayseth” Varga told The Esports Observer. “If you look at the industry, you see a lot of headphone sponsors, and they’re mostly on the stage. That gets you advertising capital, because obviously they’re going to be on camera, and that’s really cool, but it’s always been a chronic issue at FGC and Smash events that you get these monitors and they might not have audio, and a lot of people always complain about it.”

Fighting game events are mostly one-on-one competitions, meaning the number of headsets that need to be provided for a few on-stage setups is typically low. However, this also means that the only attendees who interact with the sponsor’s product directly will be the few who are selected to play on stage.