Fighting game tournament Evo Japan is criticized for its first place prize for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While a clip from a Samurai Shodown tournament had people laughing this week, Evo Japan has fighting game fans laughing out of embarrassment.
On Twitter, Andrew Nestico, a Super Smash Bros. YouTuber, revealed the list of prizes for Evo Japan as listed on the competition's official site. The first place prizes for Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 are $9,000 each, the prizes for BlazBlue Tag, Samurai Spirits, and Soul Calibur VI are $4,500 each, but the first place player of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate only gets a Nintendo Switch Pro controller. The person who gets second place in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate event does not get a prize, in comparison to the more than $1,000 of prize money given to each of the second place players in the other fighting games.
After Nestico posted the tweet, the prize list on the Evo Japan site was changed. On the English version of the site, the first place prize for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate now says it will be "announced later." The Japanese version of the site has not changed. The prize list on the English site may have changed because of the heavy criticism of the Nintendo Switch Pro controller prize, though this has not been confirmed. The official Evo and Evo Japan Twitter accounts have not responded to the criticism and EVO president Joey Cuellar also hasn't tweeted about it.
Some Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans have wondered if the small prize is because of Japan's prize money gambling laws. After one Street Fighter V player won thousands of dollars in a tournament, he was able to take just $600 because of these Japanese laws. To potentially take home more money, players need to get a Pro Gamer License and this may have been why Evo Japan offers such a small prize.
Some fans have also suggested that they could start some sort of campaign, where fans put money into a prize pot and the winner of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament at Evo Japan will get to win this. Valve does something like this with Dota 2's The International, as players spend money which is added to the prize fund. It's unclear if that's what Evo Japan is planning to do, but if the prize stays as the Nintendo Switch Pro controller, many fans are going to be unhappy.