Nintendo has announced the first live/esports Switch 2 related event.
Nintendo of America made this announcement on their official Facebook page:
Announcing the Mario Kart World Invitational 2025 tournament, taking place at Nintendo Live 2025 TOKYO on October 4 and 5! More details will be revealed in the future.
This will be the first time they hold a new Nintendo Live event in two years. Nintendo did have original plans for a Nintendo Live in Tokyo last year, but that event was cancelled. In an unlikely sequence of events, Nintendo employees received real and grave threats for these events, both in the US and Japan. In April of last year, a man who allegedly sent 39 such threats was arrested in Japan, confirming the valid reasons for the event cancellations.
Nintendo Live is Nintendo’s take on hosting live events, including esports competitions, for their own games. After years of developing a burgeoning esports scene for Splatoon in their native Japan, Nintendo has been formulating how to manage their own esports scene. While Nintendo has worked hard to keep their scene safe, that’s included making some hard decisions.
That included a clear condemnation of the allegations that emerged against members of their Super Smash Bros. eSports / FGC community in 2020. And then last year, they revoked the championship from the team who won the 2024 Splatoon 3 World Championship.
Nintendo has an unenviable task here. Of course, they want to nurture that burgeoning fan community for their games. At least in theory, that should include their competitive communities. But in 2025, it cannot be avoided that every competitive video game community and eSports league runs the risk of bad actors, especially since professional players are adults. This issue is especially worrisome for Nintendo, because they purposefully make products and services for an all-ages audience. They have to make sure their events, and their brand overall, remains safe, not only in reputation, but also in real life.
At least for now, Nintendo has momentum coming into this event as it comes hot off the heels of the launch of their new console. We imagine, if supply issues could still be a thing, that Nintendo is also planning to bring a lot of stock of their console to the event as well. And of course, they can do exactly the same thing for Nintendo Live events they’ll hold in the US and potentially other places around the world.
