"Nintendo just never got back to us": Ninja's Smash Bros EVO bonus was turned down by the Mario publisher
Popular streamer Ninja has alleged that Nintendo turned down his generous offer of helping out with $500,000 at EVO. While appearing on a livestream hosted on the YouTube channel Hustler Casino Live, the iconic Twitch personality talked about an incident that happened between him and the popular Japanese video game company.
For context, EVO is an annual fighting game tournament. In the tournament, popular publishers host their biggest fighting games for players to compete in and offer a hefty prize pool for winners. Featured franchises that have often made appearances in the tournament include Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and of course, the Super Smash Bros series.
Ninja offered $500,000 to the gaming giant to bolster the prize pool for Smash Bros a few years ago. This popular platform fighter series is one of the best-selling fighting games out there with a massive following, despite being a single-platform franchise. However, Nintendo never responded to his offer. Speaking to Smash Bros influencer Ludwig Ahgren in the video and to quote:
The deal was likely proposed around 2018 as that is when Ninja teased something exciting for the Smash Bros community. However, nothing came of that, possibly due to the publisher's lack of interest. He did add that they were interested a minute, but ignored him once his Tweet was out there.
Ninja also mentioned that his love and appreciation for the fighting game community led him to make this decision.
Despite how popular their games are, the publisher has never been particularly chummy with their fans. Especially when it comes to third party competitive scenes. The recent shocker was when the company unveiled that Smash Bros Ultimate would not feature at this year's EVO, which upset many fans.
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