Tournaments are still too reliant on Top 8
A while back, I wrote about the differences that made Smash Summit more successful than some other major tournaments. While there are many things I think big tournaments should take from Summit, one of the biggest is their lack of reliance on what happens in top 8. Of course, Summit gets most of its views in the sets leading up to Grand Finals, and that is affected by who’s playing. However, because Summit isn’t only about the top 8, they’re able to sustain themselves and attract sponsors regardless.
With that in mind, there are many reasons that tournaments shouldn’t be all about the top 8, but I just want to talk about a few:
Peak viewership isn’t that important
For a long time — especially on r/smashbros — there’s been a belief that peak viewership told the story of a tournament. That belief is totally incorrect. While it’s great if a tournament has a high peak, it doesn’t really do much. Think of it from a business perspective — if you’re a sponsor, how much do you care if your brand is getting viewed by a lot of people… for a 3 hour span of time? Or worse, for a single set? Probably not a lot.
It’s way more valuable if people are engaged with your brand, which is why concurrent viewership is more important. People who are watching an event over a long period of time are more invested in what they’re seeing — and probably more likely to remember it.
Event is more fun for viewers
As much as we’re familiar with the typical structure of tournaments, the first two days have become interesting mainly for upsets. If a tournament goes as seeded, people are probably not going to be as invested. No clips, people aren’t talking about it for months, so on. But you can’t plan for an upset, which means people are more likely to be checking Reddit to hear about it, rather than watching the stream.
In order to get those concurrent views, though, a tournament needs to provide something that can be planned in advance. Summit has the couch with top players and casters being themselves and joking around, a schedule of Mafia, Low Tier events, and so on. It’s all fun to watch, which is why last Summit had over 10,000 people watching before the real tournament even started.
Majors haven’t played around with the formula to find an event that’s truly engaging for people during the first day or so of a tournament. Exhibition matches? Different game modes? No one knows what will work, but pools haven’t worked out well so far, so we should try something else.
(P.S. We’ve all seen the viewership during pools, don’t front.)
Can promote event on other qualities
The other day, I realized that the model for Smash tournaments to make money is a patchwork mess.
Unlike in big esports, everything is separate. Nintendo doesn’t run or stream our tournaments. The people who stream our tournaments are separate from the TOs as well (most of the time). So that means that more than the tournament itself is reliant on top 8 — everyone else is too. What happens if a streamer has to stream all Puff dittos in Smash 4? That’s their viewership that takes the hit. The tournament itself can’t promote “exciting gameplay” or whatever for next year, so that’s their attendance that takes the hit. So on.
However, if the event has more to see than the top 8 alone, then everyone wins. The viewers, the streamers, the TOs — everyone. Then, there’s something to promote for the event’s first, second, third year, instead of hoping that the most exciting player gets into Grand Finals each year.
Effectively, this is taking the model that events like Smashcon, Momocon, and Shine have put in place for attendees, but making sure that viewers get a fun experience as well. Especially because… well, most of us can’t travel to everything.
By the way, I’ve started a YouTube channel! I figured that some people like listening to or watching content more than reading it. Plus, I can explain things in a more “free” way than I can on Medium. If you like my articles, you may want to check it out: The Neutral Game — YouTube
