B/R Weekly Rushdown: Major Splatoon 2 Announcement, Madden Bowl Controversy
After two nice, calm weeks, things got ugly. Pretty darn ugly, in fact. The Trump administration's desire to limit free travel to the United States continues to be a constant in both the world news and esports news cycle, and one of the hotter up-and-coming tournaments had an ugly aftermath.
Offsetting that are two bits of good news in the realm of Nintendo, as a promising new feature for one of its upcoming games was announced and one of its most underappreciated IPs received a new lease on life.
So here it is! Your weekly rushdown of esports news.
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Madden Bowl Winner Controversy
The Madden Bowl was an interesting esports event in many ways. It had the $250,000 prize pool to turn the heads of business-focused fans and the perfect date and location (functionally kicking off Super Bowl weekend in Houston) to lure in a mainstream audience. The event went smoothly as well, airing live on the NFL Network with a significant viewership increase over the past week.
Unfortunately, the aftermath hasn't been great. Shortly after the event concluded, sports game journalist Bryan Wiedey unearthed a number of racial epithet-laden tweets (warning: NSFW language) made by the tournament's winner, Chris "Dubby" McFarland.
"Obviously the way I joke with my best friend @jusquire isn't for the public and I apologize for that. Never thought I'd have this following
— Chris McFarland (@DubDotDUBBY) February 4, 2017"
The tweets are from 2010 to 2011 and are mostly (but not entirely) directed at a Twitter user with the handle @jusquire. Dubby was initially defiant regarding any wrongdoing but backtracked to some degree shortly thereafter and has since clarified that the user is a friend.
In response to the controversy, EA Sports has fined Dubby $3,000 from his Madden Bowl winnings, per Polygon's Samit Sarkar. However, he retains his spot in May's Madden Championship, where he will compete for the top prize of the game's competitive season.
The lack of repentance on Dubby's part is troubling, but the relative age of the tweets and the fact no recent incidents have been brought to light would suggest this case is closed.
Trump's Travel Bans May Force The International Out of the United States
The Trump administration's ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority nations has been dominating the news cycle for weeks now, and a running theme since has been tech companies coming out against the executive order. The esports world has been no different as players, teams and tournament organizers have spoken out against the restrictions.
Game publishers are right alongside them, with many coming out against the ban. Included among that lot is Valve, the publisher behind esports staples Dota 2 and Counter-Strike. According to PC Gamer's Evan Lahti and Shaun Prescott, Valve executives recently sat down for a roundtable and discussed how the travel ban is effecting the company, and they went into how it may actually force the biggest esports tournament in the world, Dota 2's The International, out of the United States.
“We have people who work at Valve who can't go home. They've been here for years. They pay taxes," said Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell. He continued on later, "But you know, they can't leave the country. ... So, like, there's some event outside the country, and for the first time we say 'Wait, they can't go because they can't get back.'"
As for The International? "Any pressure on visas getting into the United States is worrisome for us," said Valve executive Erik Johnson. He added after, "we're gonna run the event no matter what. Ideally we'd run it here [in Seattle]. ... But the event's going to happen. So yes, if it became too difficult, we'd find a way."
Though the courts have placed a hold on the order for the time being, according to the president, the administration will fight to reinstate the ban. "We will win that battle," he said (via CNN.com). "The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle. We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order."
The International is held each summer, in either July or August, which means there is still plenty of time for things to be sorted out...or worsen. If things go sideways? Well, Vancouver is nice that time of year.
Pokken Tournament Gets Thrown a Much-Needed Bone
A week ago, it seemed like the Pokemon-themed fighting game Pokken Tournament was dead in the water.
Played on a soon-to-be-obsolete console, abandoned by its publishers and removed from the Pokemon World Championship Series, the title was functionally homeless. With no port to the Nintendo Switch announced and no sequel rumored, that didn't seem likely to change.
To top it all off, Pokken was officially pushed off the main stage of Evo 2017 last week after coming up short in a charity drive, leaving the game with no major tournament support and no singular event for fans to look forward to.
That seemed to be a death blow for the community...until Sunday. According to a post on its official Twitter account (h/t PVP Live), Pokken Tournament will get a run on the Pokemon World Championships' main stage later this year.
Unfortunately, beyond that, there are no details on what Pokken's appearance at the World Championships entails. The trading-card game and primary Pokemon handheld games both have a circuit that plays out beforehand, where players accrue points during a season in order to earn a place in the finals.
It's unknown what will happen before the event in August. It is possible Pokken Tournament will be incorporated into the already-planned events scheduled to include Pokemon Sun/Moon and the TCG, or it could become something of an invitational
Either way, this is a definite boon for the Wii U title. Hopefully it receives better support from its publishers and developers going forward.
Splatoon 2 Announcements Show Nintendo's Newfound Commitment to Esports
In October's Switch trailer, Nintendo made two things clear when it comes to esports: It knows its big, and it sees Splatoon as its best hope in the field.
While it's very easy to question how committed Nintendo is to esports after years of either ignoring the industry or actively working against it, recent announcements of new features for Splatoon 2 suggest the iconic hardware manufacturer is taking this seriously. Very seriously.
Here's what the company stated on a Tumblr post on the official Splatoon 2 account:
Previously, we've reported that Splatoon 2 will allow up to eight Nintendo Switch systems to connect via local wireless to play Private Battles. In addition to this, a new feature called LAN Play will enable players to connect eight docked systems using a wired LAN setup. This feature allows players to create local Private Battle tournaments without the need for an Internet connection.
If you're willing to put in the work to set up LAN Play, you can also use the Private Battle Spectator View feature by hooking up two additional Nintendo Switch systems. Local wireless play is perfect for your regular gaming get-togethers, but LAN Play is where it's at when you want to organize a serious tournament event with your fellow players.
It would be an enormous understatement to say this is good news.
The technical limitations of the Wii U were brutal for tournament organizers, as games like Splatoon and Pokken Tournament forced players, even those sitting next to one another, to set up games through unreliable online servers. Incorporating LAN support, and going the extra step to add spectator tools, is a major boon for the title and a very positive sign for the entire Switch console.
The Switch is set to launch worldwide on March 3. Splatoon 2, meanwhile, has a projected release date between Q2 and Q3 2017.
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