Kit & Krysta on saving Nintendo from EVO embarrassment

Sometimes the big N needs a little extra push

30 July 2022
by quence 1

In a new podcast, former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have revealed the roles they played in one of Nintendo’s more controversial decisions. This decision occurred back in 2013, when Nintendo took measures to stop Super Smash Bros. Melee from being featured in an EVO tournament event. This resulted in lots of backlash and disappointment from fans.

In Episode 24 of their podcast (seen above), Kit and Krysta comment on the events in question, indicating that it was a difficult and embarrassing time, particularly from a PR standpoint. The following year, Kit took it upon himself to make sure that the incident didn’t repeat itself. After discovering that the people in charge of EVO didn’t live too far away, he arranged a meeting with them to discuss what could be done to work out some kind of arrangement with Nintendo.

According to Kit, the folks behind EVO were more than willing to compromise and make the concessions desired by Nintendo. Nintendo did participate in EVO that year, resulting in a successful multi-year partnership between the two companies. Kit was even offered a position overseeing the EVO relationship, but he declined, and the rest is history.

Nintendo certainly doesn’t always act in their own best interest, nor are they always aware of what fans want. Luckily they had employees like Kit and Krysta to set them straight during this time. Unfortunately, Nintendo won’t be at EVO this year, as they are instead hosting their own Smash Bros. tournaments, but who knows what the future holds.

You can watch the full podcast discussion in the video embedded above (the section about EVO takes place around ten minutes in).

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Comments (1)

kuribo

1+ y ago

A valiant effort Kit!