Nintendo offers sponsorship for EVO 14

When EVO rolled around last year, Nintendo was caught in the cross fire.  Reports coming out of the 2013 event from co-founder Joey Cuellar claimed that Nintendo was trying to shut down the Smash Bros. portion of EVO, and were attempting to block live streams of the event from happening.  While things eventually got squared away, and were chalked up to mis-communication, it looks like Nintendo will be a full on sponsor for this year’s event.

EVO 2014 is getting ready to kick off in Las Vegas, and it’s unclear what Nintendo has planned.  Given their massive Smash Bros showcase at E3 2014, and the dedicated Smash Bros. community that will in attendance and watching at home during EVO 2014, it’s likely we’ll be hearing more about the upcoming releases.  EVO 2014 will be held on July 11 – 13, and will feature tournaments for a number of popular fighting games.

It’s good to see Nintendo way out ahead of any possible controversy this time around.  Is it possible that Nintendo is finally coming to understand that people watching and wanting to watch your games being played at a high level is a good thing?  Nintendo held its very own Invitational Tournament last month at E3 for Super Smash Bros’ professional community.

Nintendo has been slow to adopt the culture of YouTube, Twitch streaming, and professional gaming.  The game maker has offered a controversial stance on monetization for YouTube videos and live streams of their products, making it hard for video creators to showcase their work and get paid for it.

An important launch of Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U and 3DS is due later this year.