Beyond the Summit announces new voting system for Smash Ultimate Summit 5 - Upcomer
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After revealing plans to change the voting process for its Super Smash Bros. invitationals in May, Beyond the Summit announced its updated voting system on Monday. The new system will debut in August, leading up to Smash Ultimate Summit 5.

By spending at least $5 in the compendium shop, either on merchandise or a Summit Voting Pass, fans can earn 100 votes. However, additional purchases will not add new votes. This differs drastically from previous events, where fans could continually pay for additional votes.

In addition, players will automatically earn 100 votes by registering for Mainstage 2022. They can also earn five votes by registering for any of the three online Papa John’s Arcadian qualifiers. As a result, each individual has a cap of 215 total votes. These options for accruing votes will also extend to Beyond the Summit’s next Melee event, Smash Summit 14, even though the Papa John’s Arcadian is an Ultimate-only tournament.

The new Beyond the Summit voting process will climax on August 23 with the brand new Summit Countdown. During previous Summits, players would be eliminated and voted in over a period of several days. Conversely, all of the vote-ins will claim their spots at Smash Ultimate Summit 5 on a single day.

More about the changes to Beyond the Summit voting

Beyond the Summit creative producer Zane “epengu” Bhansali said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything post that the new voting process is intended to limit the impact of VIP passes. At previous Summits, participants could pay $1,000 for a VIP pass that came with 3,000 votes. However, with shop purchases no longer contributing any more than 100 votes, securing votes from VIPs will no longer be as integral a part of Summit campaigns.

“We’re hoping that these changes return voting to a system where more people have power rather than the few who are able to leverage a large amount of votes by themselves,” epengu said. “Players will hopefully be excited to campaign and create things for their fans, and vote-ins will truly be decided by the will of the community again.”

There will only be four vote-ins for Smash Ultimate Summit 5, down from six at previous Summits. Creative producer Mikey “The Cheat” Iosue confirmed in the AMA that more players will receive direct invites this time around.

Opt-ins for Smash Ultimate Summit 5 will begin on August 1, followed by the Twitter nominations phase on August 4. The shop will open and voting will officially begin on August 9. However, Beyond the Summit will hide the number of votes each player has until the Summit Countdown broadcast. This show will run from 2-6 p.m. PT on August 23.


Dylan Tate is an alumnus of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a gaming journalist with a love for Nintendo esports, particularly Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon.


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