Apex has been the premier tournament for the Super Smash Bros. series ever since the event started in 2009. As such, it’s hard to imagine an Apex that isn’t running almost every version of the game; however, it seems that that is going to be the case for this year’s event.
Both the singles and doubles tournaments for Super Smash Bros. Brawl at Apex 2016 have been cancelled. According to Apex’s new organizers, a team lead by Bifuteki, this was due to low registration numbers for both. Prior to this, Bifuteki had stated that the tournaments were under threat of cancellation if they did not break the 16 entrants mark. This news, obviously, means that both tournaments did not reach that number.
Registration numbers for Apex in general have seen a major drop off from last year. Aside from Brawl, three other games are also at risk of cancellation: Mortal Kombat XL, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and Killer Instinct.
This year’s tournament was moved from its usual January slot to one in the middle of June. The move puts it in direct conflict with the DreamHack Smash Championship in Sweden, which may partly be to blame for the low registration numbers.
Apex 2016 is set to take place from June 17 to June 19. Registration for the event will remain open until June 6.