The Smash community has been demanding a response from Panda Global ever since the esports organization was accused of sabotaging the Smash World Tour, which was eventually canceled by Panda’s partner, Nintendo.
The competitive Smash scene was stunned when Smash World Tour announced that it was shutting down the Championship just days before it was set to begin. A long blog post from the tournament organizers accused Panda Global of being behind the decision, with Panda’s CEO getting called out for allegedly telling them that Nintendo was shutting them down and attempting to monopolize the tournaments in the two circuits.
A lot of pro players stated that they were no longer going to compete at the Panda Cup as the community came together to condemn the esports organization for not supporting the Smash scene. Smash fans warned Panda’s social media manager to stop posting memes to avoid the hate they were going to receive until Panda made an official statement. And now it’s finally come.
Smash community angry at Panda Global’s official statement
Panda started its statement by applauding the team behind the Panda Cup, which were behind 10 major events this past year. According to Panda, the Panda Cup was created due to the organization’s passion for the grassroots Smash scene.
Going along with Nintendo’s narrative, Panda Global claimed to be “surprised” at the Smash World Tour‘s decision to cancel the Championship. The team was allegedly not informed by Nintendo that this was happening but agreed with Nintendo that Smash World Tour didn’t have to cancel the event and volunteered to do it themselves.
“Panda has listened to the community and changed some of our approaches to working with tournaments based on the feedback,” Panda added, mentioning some accusations made by Smash World Tour about their CEO, Dr. Alan.
Panda added that Dr. Alan has been a “vocal supporter” of the Smash community and expressed that in conversations with and about Smash World Tour. They did admit to the altercation between Dr. Alan and Beyond the Summit, however, “in which he spoke in a manner which did not reflect either guidance from Nintendo or our own standards.”
In the end, Panda Global stated that they have invested “thousands of hours” towards the Panda Cup and look forward to continuing to build up the Smash community and its future.
The Smash community reacted negatively to the official statement, with many wondering why the Panda Cup wasn’t canceled and why Dr. Alan wasn’t punished for threatening members of the Smash scene.
For now, it’s not looking good for the Panda Cup. Many players, including Panda-sponsored pros like Cody “iBDW” Schwab, have canceled going to the event in favor of Mainstage.
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