The Invitational and the World Championship
Nintendo might shy away from unofficial events a little too often, and in the wrong way, but they sure can kick off officially sanctioned tournaments.
Once again Smash and Splatoon will return to E3, but this time it’ll be based around Splatoon 2, and the newly announced Super Smash Bros. (the latter will have a presumably limited roster until everyone gets revealed). The events (Invitational for the former, World Championship for the latter) will run from June 11-12, which hints that Nintendo’s Direct will probably reveal Smash before the actual convention starts on June 12.
If you’re interested in qualifying, the official rules are below:
Prior to the Splatoon 2 World Championship, Nintendo will host U.S./Canada online qualifiers. The U.S./Canada qualifier will be the Splatoon 2 U.S./Canada Inkling Open 2018 hosted by Battlefy. Open qualifiers for teams of four ages 13 and up will take place on April 21 starting at 11 a.m. PT, and finals will take place on April 28 at 8 a.m. PT. Teams will compete in Turf War during the open qualifiers and in Ranked Battle modes during the finals. Players can learn more about the qualifiers at e3.nintendo.com/splatoon-2-inkling-open. Players from around the world competed in their region’s qualifying events for a spot at the Splatoon 2 World Championship, and those in Japan (Splatoon Koshien 2018), Europe (Splatoon European Championship) and Australia (AUNZ Splatoon Cup) should check information from their local regions regarding these qualifiers.
