On June 4, Smash World Tour revealed that the Smash World Tour South American Regional Finals for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is moving to an online format. Kenneth “Keen” Hanss, one of the players who qualified for the event, shared the news on Twitter by posting a screenshot of an email from the Smash World Tour. According to the email, the Smash World Tour team changed the South America Ultimate Regional Finals to an online tournament due to the continent’s ongoing COVID-19 situation.
“This is necessary to ensure that the winner has ample time to obtain any necessary visas,” the email said.
The Smash World Tour has not publicly announced the shift to online as of the publication of this article. The online South American Regional Finals begin July 30.
https://twitter.com/Keen_herrera/status/1400918086811893766?s=20
Smash World Tour online events
Due to the global COVID-19 situation, Smash World Tour events have been online for the past year. As more countries begin to lift their COVID-19 social distancing precautions, tournament organizers have begun to announce in-person events. However, the pandemic’s effects on South America have continued to be devastating, making it unsafe to hold in-person tournaments at this time.
More about the online Smash World Tour South America Ultimate Regional Finals
The South American Smash Ultimate Regional Finals will still feature the 16 competitors who earned spots at the online qualifier in April. It will include a $5,000 prize pool and the winner will qualify for the in-person Smash World Tour Global Finals at the end of the year.
The email Keen screenshotted does not mention the South America Melee Regional Finals. However, the Super Smash Bros. Melee event was originally scheduled to take place on the same weekend as the Ultimate event. Two players will qualify for the Melee Global Finals through this event, though it is currently unclear if they will qualify by playing online or offline.
