This morning, the folks behind Apex, a tournament series widely regarded as one of the largest and most important annual Smash majors, revealed the worst-kept secret of all time: they will be entering an official partnership with Nintendo for Apex 2015.
Unfortunately, Apex and Nintendo holding hands is about all we got from the announcement. While people involved with the tournament and other prominent members of the community stepped forward with vague promises of big things on the horizon, absolutely nothing in the way of specifics were provided.
This is generally par for the course with news like this, so the lack of follow-up in itself isn’t a major issue. But, when looking at the context of the entire situation, it becomes clear that more details may have been the smarter step here.
Back in November, the Apex organizers announced the official lineup for this year’s event, which includes four generations of official Smash titles. We say “official” because one title, Project M, was left out in the cold.
For those of you out of the loop, Project M is a modification of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that was created in an effort to make the game as competitive as its hugely popular older sibling, Super Smash Bros. Melee. As such, it operates as a very interesting addition to the scene, one that gets play at smaller tournaments but is effectively starting to be phased out at larger events.
Ever since the lineup announcement, voices within and without the Smash community quickly came to the conclusion that Project M was given the boot due to some sort of official involvement by Nintendo. While historically averse to giving competitive Smash attention, the company has made some major strides with the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS to make connections with fans outside the core, casual demographic. Thus, the idea that they would rather not give an unofficial modification of one of their titles the spotlight made complete sense.
Now, I’m not going to get into a debate about the decision to not include Project M at Apex 2015; the inferred reasoning behind it is sound. That being said, any further news about the event, the game, or Nintendo’s involvement in the community will instantly be saddled with that previous discussion. While I have no doubt that this partnership will have a net positive effect on the Smash scene, at the moment the only tangible change is a negative one: the loss of a prominent, competitive title.
I’m of the mind that letting others fill in the blanks you’ve left for them will, for the most part, bite you in the ass. Hopefully Apex and Nintendo has the opportunity to show what this partnership brings to the table soon to quell this rather Mad Libs-type situation.
Apex 2015 is scheduled for January 30 – February 1 in Seacaucus, New Jersey. More details and registration information can be found through their official website.
Source: Apex
