anon_smash

Smash Anon · @anon_smash

25th Nov 2020 from TwitLonger

#FreeMelee & #SaveSmash from a former Nintendo Rep


Let me start by saying I back you guys 100%.

Next, Nintendo treated me well during my employment with them. I worked specifically for NOA and I was one of the people you'd see with a booth and free swag at Best Buy or Gamestop. I'd update the demo units you see in stores and would help provide guidance on displays and planos for retailers. I'd provide proof, but they take our ID badges when employment is done and all I have left are some old pictures of me working that I don't feel safe sharing.

That being said, my job was very public facing. Before the pandemic, I'd be traveling across the state to hold events for upcoming new releases. One of my favorites was when we were pushing Bravely Default and I was at a retailer. The whole day I had no one until two random dudes came up, and let me take pictures of them. I gave them one of all the swag I had at the time.

But that leads me into what I'm about to talk about. Nintendo is all about control. For those pictures, I had to make these guys look like they were having a BLAST playing a *turn based RPG*. Corporate loves these fun photos because they can use them for promo. If they can't use it to market, they don't want it. This philosophy spreads throughout the entire business. I ran a few of the promo in store tournaments for Smash 4 and Ultimate. We were given a few very specific rules about players, particularly Melee players.

We were told that if Melee players showed up, we have to accommodate them and let them try the game, even if they were openly hostile to us about it. I didn't have anyone be that way directly to me, luckily. Anyway, we were supposed to carefully control the narrative about the game during the demo event by trying to keep the hype going and making sure people were having "fun" even if they weren't having actual fun. We let people record (but not stream... but we couldn't verify it anyway lol) and if anyone was a decent sized influencer, they'd get a bit more time because we'd conveniently "forget" their timer or something to that effect. Make no mistake, Nintendo is devilishly cunning when it comes to how their product is seen.

But let's say we had someone come up and start just trashing the game and saying melee is better. THOSE guys got their times cut short. We were told not to let them hang around. We were told ask store staff to remove them if it continued. I don't think anyone ever had to, because that would've been a PR nightmare, but Nintendo is very aware of Melee players and their less than stellar reputation. We were told not to mention the possibility of them running their own tournaments to the players but fuck you I did it anyway.

I had several mom & pop stores reach out to me about prizes for tourneys and no matter how many times I asked my boss, I'd get crickets. I eventually just gave them some of the swag I had, but that technically came from my own promo stuff, like this Link Between Worlds chest that held 3DS games and played the Zelda noise when you opened it or an old promo display we were told to toss. Eventually, focus shifted away from the smaller areas I was instead moved on to bigger communities with events that had a bit more staff and control. The rules stayed the same though: get people talking about the current games and the current hardware.

We were eventually explicitly guided to not work with any tourneys who were wanting to stream any old games or old games alongside Ultimate. If we were caught doing so, we risked termination. As my time with the company came to a close, I cared less and less about that rule and just began giving some of the employees some product to give to anyone who was asking for prizes. The few tourneys Nintendo ran were always laughed at amongst employees because they ran such garbage rules, but Nintendo eventually saw that they can give minimal prizes and keep players invested while also having complete control over their own stream and video.

And that's the whole thing. This is all about control and keeping your mind with the "latest and greatest". They want to run their own tourneys, with their own tiny prizes that they can use to advertise the game and future DLC. I know my story isn't a big scandalous bombshell, but I jsut want to show how much Nintendo has their ears to the ground, even if they don't actively show it. They are watching and listening for you guys and they have made it clear they don't want you around because (and this may shock some people) you're not helping their bottom line. Melee doesn't drive profitable sales, at all.

Either way, you guys keep fighting.

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