Editing Cancellation of Smash World Tour 2022

{{Trn|Smash World Tour 2022}} was a cancelled ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'' tournament circuit. The sudden cancellation of the event, along with the allegations that arose in its aftermath (particularly towards CEO Alan Bunney), resulted in a widespread boycott of {{Team|Panda}} within the ''Smash'' community, as well as the end of Panda's involvement with the competitive ''Smash'' scene.  

In 2022, two separate ''Smash'' tournament circuits were being held simultaneously. The first was the annual [[Smash World Tour]] circuit that is entirely independent and grassroots with no direct support from [[Nintendo]]. The second was the brand new {{Trn|Panda Cup}} operated by [[Panda]]. This particular circuit was noteworthy for being the first ever North American ''Smash'' circuit to be directly supported by Nintendo. The news of this partnership was met with positive reception by the community, who generally saw the partnership as opening the door to more direct support from Nintendo in the future. However, some were skeptical with Nintendo's involvement, particularly with how their involvement would affect the operations of Panda Cup as well as how competing tournaments would be treated. Nevertheless, both circuits managed to coexist and operated smoothly with no major issues until November, when the SWT organizers suddenly announced that the entire circuit and all remaining tournaments would be canceled.

SWT's last few discussions with Nintendo came in November, a month before the championship. Nintendo confirmed that they were still figuring out the license while noting that people they were discussing with have advocated for the SWT, community, and grassroots organizers; despite this, Nintendo still declined to have their decision makers discuss with the SWT organizers. The following and final conversation came with a verdict: Nintendo would not license both the championship and any tournament activity from the SWT in 2023, with Nintendo citing the reasons as being that SWT had not met their health & safety guidelines and was not adhering to their internal partner guidelines,<ref name="SWT 3rd statement">{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C3dcrxOf5FeAeyW_T-nldsruUN21XFIjJFAK2xKE_k0|title=OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY SMASH WORLD TOUR 12/07/2022}}</ref> and according to the SWT organizers Nintendo also refused to allow SWT to run the circuit without a license, effectively changing their view a year prior and forcing the team to cancel the championship.

The news spread rapidly across the internet, with prominent figures criticizing Panda's and Nintendo's actions, including top players {{Sm|Sparg0}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} as well as notable streamers such as {{Sm|Cr1TiKaL}} and {{Sm|Ludwig}}. The announcement led to an outcry from the community, particularly those who had qualified for the tournament. Many players once again accused Nintendo for hurting ''Smash''{{'}}s grassroots scene and criticized the company for continuing their out-of-touch behaviors with the community. Esports organizations such as {{Team|beastcoast}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/beastcoast/status/1597766191388405760|title=beastcoast's statement on the cancellation}}</ref> and Paragon<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/ParagonFGC/status/1597782156062838785|title=Paragon's statement on the cancellation}}</ref> released statements urging Nintendo to reverse their decision. Many in the community accused Bunney of using the Panda Cup's partnership with Nintendo to undermine and shut down the Smash World Tour in order to promote the Panda Cup and intimidate other tournaments to exclusively join the Panda Cup. The allegations in the document were supported by many well known figures in the ''Smash'' [[community]], chief among them LD, the co-founder of BTS.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/LDeeep/status/1597728742343778304|title=LD on Panda}}</ref> He would personally verify that Panda and Bunney were aggressive and difficult to work with during negotiations.

Others in the community have instead focused on VGBC's role in the situation, as despite Nintendo initiating the dialogue and offering them the chance to get licensed, the SWT proceeded without a license and was ultimately cut short as a result. This has been commonly attributed to how VGBC gave Nintendo only two months to evaluate their licensing application before announcing SWT 2022 without their approval (something that took the Panda Cup, an exclusively North American circuit, three years to accomplish). They also point to Nintendo's own statements on the matter over health & safety concerns by accusing VGBC of not having provided sufficient security at their events, such as how {{Sm|Technicals}}, a player who was banned from [[Double Down 2022]], was allowed to enter the venue unimpeded due to a complete lack of security presence at the time of the incident,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCqgRuostPA The UNSOLVED Mystery of Smash World Tour]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIeRcIQbMKA Why Nintendo Shutdown Smash Tournaments]</ref> an issue that {{Sm|GimR}}, president of VGBC, would acknowledge but deny responsibility for.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/jifour98_/status/1640378250122887168?s=20|title=GimR's response to Double Down's security problems}}</ref>

Nintendo released an official response on the matter to Kotaku, stating that although a partnership with the Smash World Tour did not come to fruition, they did not request the cancellation of the 2022 circuit nor the cancellation of the championship, as they knew that it would have negatively impacted those who had already qualified. Nintendo also stated that their decision to not license SWT was not influenced by Panda Global, and they reiterated that the reasons being was instead due to SWT having not met their guidelines pertaining to health & safety and branding. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://kotaku.com/nintendo-smash-world-tour-fgc-shut-down-panda-esports-1849833867|title=Nintendo Shuts Down Smash World Tour, Organizers 'Losing Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars'|accessdate=2022-11-30|last=Plunkett|first=Luke|date=2022-11-29|publisher=Kotaku}}</ref> Smash World Tour released [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m8Km4iIZ-i5nadyjNWexfsfz1LeFjljV7UkGdz8_Cwc/edit a follow-up statement] holding onto their claim that Nintendo sent to them in writing that they would not grant their license to run the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships or any SWT activity in 2023. This was without them applying for a 2023 license at all, and despite applying for the championships' license seven months prior in April, Nintendo wanted them to secure a license well in advance of any public announcement. When asked if they were able to operate without a license like past years, Nintendo stated that those "times are over."

On December 6th, Alan himself released a [https://medium.com/@alan_43400/my-statement-3a66fd37978a personal response] detailing his side of the story. In his response, he claimed that he never meant to harm VGBC, and even defended them at points, while also claiming that members of Beyond the Summit were difficult to work with, and members of the community were conspiring to turn on Panda. He also touted the theory that the Smash World Tour Championships were never actually planned to be held and that the "cancellation" was only a front to be perceived as a martyr by the community. This response was met with backlash from the community, with many prominent figures, including many large tournament organizers, speaking up to challenge and debunk his claims. {{Sm|boback}}, head TO of the [[Tournament:GENESIS (series)|GENESIS series]], posted a Twitter thread recounting his experiences with Alan,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/boba_ck/status/1600376820964024326|title=boback's Twitter thread}}</ref> as did Ken Chen, creative director of Beyond the Summit, who was a main target in Alan's response.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Hot_Bid/status/1600362530198630400|title=Ken Chen's Twitter thread}}</ref> SWT released their final statement as a response to Alan's later in the night on December 7th, detailing their communications with Nintendo and disproving the false cancellation theory.<ref name="SWT 3rd statement"/> Some commenters on his Medium post pointed out that Bunney may have actually had good intentions, but it was ruined by his poor communication and behavior.{{fact}}

The allegations and subsequent fallout led to calls to boycott Panda and the finale, and many players in the {{Trn|Panda Cup Finale}} or the [[Tournament:Panda Cup Last Chance Qualifier|Last Chance Qualifier]] dropped out of the event, which contributed to the Finale's eventual cancellation. Beyond the Summit also reopened {{Trn|Mainstage 2022}} registration for a day and gave free entry to SWT participants who had yet to register for Mainstage. All entry fees paid during this time were donated directly to SWT.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/BTSsmash/status/1597791017033662465|title=BTS reopening Mainstage registration}}</ref>In addition, the tournament was not used for the [[OrionRank 2022]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/LoopBarnard/status/1598781882493042690|title=The Panda Cup will not count for OrionRank 2022}}</ref> while the event and all future {{Team|Panda}} events were blacklisted from [https://omegarank.com/ ΩRank].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/OmegaRank/status/1598756202103844864|title=Panda events blacklisted from ΩRank}}</ref>  

On January 10th, 2023, Bunney held an interview where he admitted to knowing how Nintendo was going to shut down SWT ahead of time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/JacobWolf/status/1612966712177197056|title=Alan Bunney admitting to knowing Nintendo will shut down SWT}}</ref> He claims that he was directly told by representatives that SWT would be canceled well before it happened, backing up what SWT initially claimed and what Nintendo denied in the Kotaku interview. He specifically claims that cease and desist letters were considered several times.

Panda ultimately released all of their remaining professional Smash players on January 16th, 2023, ending with {{Sm|Marss}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Marss_NE/status/1615125863502077952|title=Marss leaves Panda}}</ref> As a result, all ''Smash''-related operations at Panda were effectively shut down, with only eight core members remaining on the team and no new content on any front released since the controversy. However many players have since criticized the community's handling of the controversy, specifically how it ruined a chance for the community to have a positive relationship with Nintendo, destroyed a prominent ''Smash'' organization despite only its CEO being under fire, and affected Panda staff that had no part in the controversy. Following a Tweet from {{Sm|Alphicans}} which did just that,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Alphicans/status/1612896753866670080|title=Alphicans criticizing the reaction}}</ref> former Panda staff member Chris Okamura confirmed that many players in Panda wanted to stay on the team but were pressured to leave due to the controversy,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/KidLiquid/status/1613313070255984641|title=Chris Okamura's response to Alphicans's statement}}</ref> with the claim eventually supported by {{Sm|WaDi}} and {{Sm|TKbreezy}}.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230830032952/https://twitter.com/WaDiRob/status/1613366443965579266 |title=WaDi's reaction}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/TKbreezy/status/1613319628498915333|title=TKbreezy's reaction}}</ref>

Although content creation from Panda has remained dormant, operations within the company continued and a few updates on their properties have been released. First, the previously named "Panda Fighting Games" [[YouTube]] channel and its directly affiliated outlets came out of dormancy on May 5th, 2023, after content creators previously signed to Panda claimed that they had acquired the rights to the channel, running it independently under the new name [https://www.youtube.com/@FightingGameSelect/featured Fighting Game Select].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5FlyqwpgM&t|title=Panda Fighting Games rebrand}}</ref> In addition, Panda released an update on December 4th, 2023, announcing the shutdown of [https://www.pgstats.com PGStats.com] due to a lack of funding and offered their guidance to the community following the release of the [[Nintendo Community Tournament Guidelines]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.panda.gg/news/an-update|title=An Update}}</ref> This decision was reversed following community support for the database and funds received from the sales of the bomber jackets meant for the Panda Cup.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/PandaGlobal/status/1747348083720237058|title=PGStats.com kept online}}</ref>

This controversy has also added more strain on the relationship between Nintendo and the ''Smash'' community. While their actions in the controversy were not unprecedented, as they have shut down several high-profile tournaments in the past, many in the community alleged that Nintendo was manipulated by Panda into shutting down their competition and forcing smaller events to join them or be shut down. Since then, others believe the shutdown was the result of VGBootCamp's own failure to abide to Nintendo's health and safety standards due to their lack of security, and giving Nintendo a small window to approve of a license to run the Smash World Tour circuit while publicly announcing the circuit while said license was still pending, despite Nintendo stating to wait for approval before attempting to run the circuit. Discussions once again flared up over what the future of competitive ''Smash'' will look like, with some players being worried as to whether Nintendo would shut down other tournaments that they did not license. This fear was alleviated following the successful runs of several majors not licensed by Nintendo, but attention to it was brought up once again with the release of the Nintendo Community Tournament Guidelines.

Despite VGBootCamp's uncertainty on their future, they continued to stream and host tournaments into the new year. On March 17th, 2023, VGBootCamp released an update on their future where they stated how they were focused on rebuilding their brand and thanked the community for their support.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LPsDLXVlDgK779BHGpBmOViMU0Ru_nj63AKojtCPJuY/edit|title=VGBootCamp's Path Forward}}</ref>

On November 22, 2023, the podcast ''Lights Out'' had Alan Bunney as a guest, who shed some light on topics related to this incident.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2DpSz8mpuA&t Dr Alan Reveals EVERYTHING That Happened w/ Panda! | Lights Out Episode 36]</ref> He would reiterate that many players were reluctant to leave, but were essentially forced to after sustained harassment towards themselves, their families, individuals tangentially related to the company, and even unrelated individuals with the same last names as employees. Nintendo and other law firms have also commented to Bunney that the sheer amount of hate and vitriol towards them at the time was unprecedented. Bunney also confirmed that the Panda Cup Finale was canceled, and the final nail in the coffin for the tournament and the company was the [[Scuffed World Tour]] taking place on the same day as the initial date, as Panda simply could not compete with that or any other major tournament in their condition. It is worth noting, however, that many top players had already boycotted the Panda Cup Finale after Panda's first statement and before the announcement of the Scuffed World Tour, including Hungrybox, Sparg0, {{Sm|KoDoRiN}}, {{Sm|MkLeo}}, {{Sm|Maister}}, {{Sm|Axe}}, {{Sm|Dabuz}}, and others. With the cancellation, Panda had to refund the reportedly millions of dollars in sponsor money for not upholding their end of the contracts. Although Panda as a corporation and all planned projects have shut down, the brand could come back some day as a smaller-scale operation. Bunney also revealed he has evidence to debunk many of the claims levied against himself and Panda during the initial backlash, but has no plans to release this evidence due to himself viewing the action as futile.