Nintendo turning over new leaf when it comes to embracing fighting game eSports

Flash back to 2008 where the future of the Super Smash Bros. competitive scene seemed uncertain as Brawl was deemed widely unworthy of serious tournament play and the community quickly looked back to Melee as their main focus.

The fighting game community didn't see a Super Smash Bros. title at EVO for four years 2009-2012 until Melee made an unlikely comeback to the competitive scene in 2013 by winning a breast cancer research donation drive wherein the Smash community raised nearly $95,000 and earned a main stage spot for their game.

Despite this Cinderella-esque story Nintendo would present yet another obstacle for Smash at EVO initially disallowing any live streaming of their game. This paired with the fact that series creator Masahiro Sakurai didn't really want Smash to be seen as a fighting game told the FGC that Nintendo wasn't fully on board with the idea of Smash eSports.

The major gaming company would eventually turn their decision over and Smash Bros. became a staple of the EVO lineup, even garnering two main stage spots (with the addition of Smash 4) for the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 EVO events.

With the major reveal for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3, the fighting game community again turns their heads to Nintendo to see just how far into the eSports realm they're wanting to go here in 2018.

Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer, Reggie Fils-Aimé participated in an interview with Forbes wherein he addressed this along with a handful of other topics.

It seems as though Nintendo has widely changed their tune since back in 2013, here's a bit of the back and forth between Forbes' Matt Perez and Nintendo's Fils-Aimé:

Perez: Regarding Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Masahiro Sakurai was talking about very minute mechanics during the Direct, and of course, you held the invitational at E3. Would it be fair to say Nintendo is opening up more to Smash's competitive scene? You're seeing more and more focus and infrastructure for eSports. Would that be an area that you'd want to be more involved in when it comes to tournaments like EVO and the pro scene around Smash Bros.? Fils-Aimé: So, let me take your question and break it into two parts. First, we did go into a lot of detail on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and we did that to make sure consumers across the globe really understood that this is a brand-new Smash Bros. game, with every character from past Smash Bros. games included with updates to the gameplay mechanics. It was very important to drive home that message. That said, the unique thing about Smash Bros. is that it's a great couch co-op game for consumers who aren't all that familiar with the game. They can very much pick up and start smashing right away. But to the second part of your question, the competitive scene: We have been doing more and more with the competitive Smash scene. We've supported EVO, we've supported a number of the other tournaments. And the Nintendo philosophy is this: We want to first obviously provide a game that really is well-suited for the competitive activity. Certainly Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, we believe, will deliver on that regard. But the other thing that we worked with the EVOs of the world is to have some consistency in the format of the tournaments to make sure that the best players do have an opportunity to compete. And those activities will continue. We believe that letting the communities grow around Smash Bros. as a competitive experience is good for Nintendo and it's good for the pro players of Smash Bros.

Reggie image source: Game Developers Conference on Flickr.