Esports Lawyer Comments on Nintendo Community Tournament Guidelines

The new community tournament guidelines that Nintendo released yesterday took the Smash community by storm. These limitations made lots of people worried. However, it is hard to understand the impact of such changes immediately. That's why it is especially interesting to hear an opinion from a lawyer who knows the esports ecosystem.

Harris Peskin, partner at ESG Law, a dedicated esports law firm, shared in his X (ex-Twitter) account his first thoughts after studying the guidelines.

Key points from a thread:

• "The guidelines only cover “not-for-profit” tournaments (“Community Tournaments”) which are organized by individuals, as distinguished from tournaments operated by entities or those that operate “for-profit” (those that are commercialized).  Nintendo indicates that it intends to outline a separate application process to govern entity operated and “for-profit” tournaments (more on that below)."
• "The question as to exactly what cost [for individual tournament organizers] can be recouped isn’t specified very well in the guidelines, but in theory could include production costs, staff, IP licensing fees, on-air talent (excluding Participants), and other operating expenses. While Nintendo retains a great deal of discretion on what these could be, there may be avenues which allow for organizers to recover a wide range of expenses."
• "What does this mean for applications such as Slippi? As Slippi is a modified version of a Nintendo Game, and doesn’t utilize Nintendo’s official online service, these guidelines prohibit the use of Slippi in connection with Community Tournaments. We will need to wait for updated guidelines for “for-profit” tournaments but given Nintendo’s posture with respect to modded games, I expect a consistent position." 
• "It is not uncommon for games to be governed by tournament guidelines. In fact, Nintendo’s approach is not entirely inconsistent with how other games have elevated grassroot communities and esports."
• "Though inconvenient, if managed openly and for the mass benefit of organizers across the entire scene, this process will actually grant legitimacy to organizers, nearly all of whom had been in breach of Nintendo’s copyright. For investors and partners, this has always been a massive red flag inhibiting sustainable monetization in the scene."

These new community tournament guidelines will be effective since November 15, 2023. For more news about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, visit our special hub.