Project M is a divisive topic in the world of Smash Bros, and the inclusion or otherwise of the game raised its head again this week as Juggleguy announced the line-up for The Big House 5, the latest iteration of his hugely successful tournament series. Previously, the Brawl mod has featured as a major part of the tournament and brought both great action and great views, but despite this there was little in the way of negative reaction from the community at large, especially in comparison to earlier in the year when Apex chose to cut the game. Part of that is simply the fortuitous timing of the event in the calendar of course, but there has also been a general move in the community towards the view that Project M can not be a part of a ‘major’, a view espoused by Juggleguy himself among others.

He even sought to give us his side of the issue in the announcement of events for Big House 5, with the following an excerpt from a long paragraph ominously entitled ‘Risk’. “[T]he game‘s legal status puts TOs in an impossible position…it may be difficult for spectators to grasp this concept; they’re not the ones who risk everything to ensure the success of an event, and they’re not the ones who lose everything if wrong decisions are made.” This is in itself a very interesting statement, for as we previously mentioned, it was not twelve months ago that Juggleguy hosted one of the best Project M tournaments of all time, with nothing having directly changed legally for the game in the meantime, but the key word in that sentence is directly.

While Project M was not legal then and is no more illegal now, existing in a legal grey area where not-for-profit mods and so on tend to, the reality now is that TOs seek to make significantly more from events in terms of profit and exposure thanks to the return to the competitive scene of Nintendo on the back of Smash 4, and all that that brings with it. As Juggleguy says, “The unfortunate truth is, the game‘s presence will always limit the ceiling of resources that a national tourney can attain. The Big House reached that point a long time ago, and I don’t wish to suppress the tourney’s growth moving forward.” Whether twelve months is a long time is debateable of course, but the message is obvious, there is more on offer this time, and the TOs don’t want to lose it by having a game that bigger sponsors are unwilling to associate with.

Nobody can fairly blame the likes of Juggleguy, Crimson Blur or any other top TO for taking the money that is offered, and we would certainly not seek to here, a new Smash game was always going to be a momentous thing for a group of people who have dedicated so much time to the series and this is the reward for years of hard work. However, it seems a little evasive for anyone to talk about excess risk given the number of Project M events still being successfully streamed, and likewise slightly disingenuous for Juggleguy to talk about spectators not having the ability to understand his reasons for excluding Project M. Most us need money, and like to be rewarded for a job done well, and the majority of the audience has not only come to terms with the decisions being made, but would also accept if a TO honestly said ‘it’ll cost me sponsors, and therefore money’.

One thing not often mentioned is the fact that for an event like Big House, running three games would represent a huge challenge logistically and also from a setup/venue point of view, so the opportunity to keep things simpler is an obvious one to take if you're trying to provide the top-level tournament experience Juggleyguy does. Equally there is an argument that the Project M scene needs to support itself more, and for Big House 4 in particular there were problems with the number of setups for the game, something only the community themselves can ultimately take responsibility for, although with this being just one in a long line of big events stripping out the mod that can only go so far as to explaining the ultimate deciding factor for TOs when they chose to run only official titles.

Some might draw comparisons with the world of professional sport, where over the years outside interests have become all-powerful to the extent that rumours are now circulating that the selection of the Brazilian National Football team has to be signed off by their commercial partners, but we are far from that stage here. Developer support is a double-edged sword, but as a scene Smash is right in the infancy when it comes to this phase of 'big time', with Nintendo helping out and bigger partners avaiable as a result. Nobody really knows if that support will continue as sales of the game slow down, but there are signs that the Japanese giants looking to move into the competitive scene might be more than just a short-term marketing ploy, with other games like Splatoon already slated for testing at eSport events, meaning there is less reason to assume they'll back away when sales slow. Stepping back, while Project M is a wonderful game with a future in its own right, this was always going to be a dark period, and although Smash 4 is still to prove it has a long-term future as an unsupported eSport everything that has happened since its release has also benefitted Melee, the true cornerstone of the series as competition.

As long as Melee is healthy, the scene can survive and support Smash games in all incarnations, both official and otherwise, but as we said earlier, it would be beneficial long-term if TOs were a little bit less evasive and more upfront about the change in the environment post-Smash 4. Obviously full disclosure is not realistic, but for a TO who treats their audience like adults, as the playing crowd increasingly are these days, the rewards for honesty if not transparency will most likely be trust, which is something every businessman and woman needs from their customers. That is the reality here, that Smash has come a long way in a short time, and for the early investors of so many thousands of hours it is fair to reap what they have sewn. As the people who have gained so much from their hard work, it would seem churlish of us to deny them that reward or require them to pretend otherwise, for we are happy customers in the main.