Nintendo cancels Splatoon 2 North American Open tournament live stream, possibly due to #FreeMelee movement
The Splatoon 2 North American Open December 2020 is taking place this weekend. Originally, Nintendo intended to host an official live stream for the finals, which are set to take place tomorrow. That will no longer be happening.
The situation seems to be a continuation of what transpired last month with Super Smash Bros. Melee. The Big House, a prominent tournament, was forced to scrap its online event following a cease desist from Nintendo. The company said the tournament would have required “use of illegally copied versions of the game” and a mod known as “Slippi”.
Many fans weren’t happy with how things played out as well as Nintendo’s statement. In response, a #FreeMelee campaign was started that took off on social media. It was then going to continue during this weekend’s Splatoon 2 tournament with a number of players and teams featuring the tag.
The official word on the live stream cancellation has been attributed to “unexpected executional challenges.” However, the consensus as of now is that #FreeMelee is the primary reason why.
Kind of funny that they'll sever their own "support" that they love to parade around as something so fantastic, just because the Splatoon community wanted to stand in solidarity with the other scenes that Nintendo outright harms.#freemelee #savesmash pic.twitter.com/3F77b19pDE
— Level1 | Slimy (@SlimyQuagsire) December 5, 2020
The Splatoon 2 North American Open December 2020 tournament finals will still take place as planned. But at least as things stand now, it appears that there are no plans to bring the live stream back.
