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In either case, it’s big news in part because of Nintendo’s long history of being super weird about the big competitive followings its games have. Past Nintendo-backed tournaments have been few and far between. And when they do happen they tend to make use of bizarre rulesets and restrictions that don’t mesh well with the existing communities.

“For everyone that doesn’t realize how big of a deal this is: Nintendo, along with finally providing prize pools, has just acknowledged the existence of competitive Melee for the first time in years & choosing to embrace it,” Juan Manuel “Hungrybox” DeBiedma, one of the best Melee players ever, tweeted today. “@PandaGlobal doing God’s work. Never imagined the day.”

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On some occasions Nintendo has tried to resist the enthusiastic grassroots competitive scenes that have sprung up around the Smash Bros. series. The company initially fought to keep Smash Bros. Melee out of Evo, the biggest fighting game event of the year, back in 2013. The company has also prevented third-party tournament organizers from streaming the games in the past.

As a result, Nintendo’s newfound embrace of the competitive Smash Bros. scene also brings new concerns of whether it will try to exert too much control. The company has a history of aggressively shutting down fan mods which have been crucial to preserving the competitive viability of older Smash Bros. games. Just recently it cancelled entire tournaments over the use of modded versions of Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, games that stopped being for sale long ago.