Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players are gearing up for a potential chance to make money and go pro thanks to the Melee world champion Hungrybox.
Hungrybox tweeted out for players to submit their resumes in an effort to find some top quality, unspotted talent that he can streamline towards interesting sponsorships and organisations. Hungrybox, being one of the most successful and recognizable names in Smash, has been involved in both the Melee and Ultimate communities as a top player and commentator respectively, and is using his large platform to boost Smash talent.
This is in response to the announcement of the Smash World Tour, a tour that will encompass many tournaments around the world. The Tour will use a point-based system through tiered-tournaments (there will be three tiers for a tournament, Platinum, Gold and Silver, depending on entrants and top player attendance) that will run from March until December. There is over $250,000 in prize money that will be split between Melee and Ultimate.
The finals of the Smash World Tour will feature 31 participants who qualified via the point system, as well as the winner of a Last Chance Qualifier bracket. These 32 players will compete for the prize pool of over $100,000 as well as the title of the Smash World Tour champion.
This Tour could be a huge opportunity for the Smash community as an esport; the games have consistently brought in high Twitch viewership and the faces of both Ultimate and Melee have been recognizable names in the competitive gaming sphere. What the scene has lacked is financial support on a large scale. While the prize money still pales in comparison to other major esports, it will certainly draw more attention to the scene and it could potentially put Smash in a position to accept even larger investors and sponsors to develop its competitive scenes.
And Hungrybox is kickstarting this by directly connecting bigger organisations with free agent and potential top players. There are already big names such as WaDi, Locus, and NAKAT, and with Mew2King no longer signed to Echo Fox, there is no shortage of major influencers for esports teams to sign.
If you think you have what it takes to get recognized by an org, head over to Hungrybox’s Twitter and submit your resume!
