Is it really? Dude's a massive DQ fan, and we get a DQ character. Talks about how much he loved Persona 5 (a game STILL not on Nintendo systems), and we get Joker. Explains how much KoF meant for him during the formative days before Smash, and suddenly a character from a series (while admittedly iconic) that has never been extremely relevant to Nintendo and certainly isn't a huge promotional move randomly gets announced?
I think most people are UNDERSELLING his influence on the DLC.
I understand why certain details about the deal can be misconstrued (Sony has a noted history of intentionally misleading/straight-up lying to the public about the particulars regarding their use of Spider-Man and the nature of their deal with Marvel), but painting Disney as some unreasonable party in the Spidey fallout is just not accurate.
Sony wanted TEN BILLION DOLLARS for the Spidey film rights. For context, that is more than what Disney paid for Marvel and Lucasfilm COMBINED. It would take over a DECADE for them to recoup the money they'd spend on those rights, assuming everything went perfect.
When Disney proposed a 25% deal that would allow the other Sony films to be part of the MCU (so Venom, Morbius, etc. would all be official MCU projects and produced by Kevin Feige, the Marvel Studios head who developed Homecoming and FFH for Sony), Sony didn't respond for MONTHS before going public with the deal's collapse. Then they tried to spin the story as an amicable split due to Kevin Feige not having enough time to work on Spidet due to the Phase 4 MCU slate, which was later confirmed to be complete, fabricated bull.
This is all to say that the image Disney has recently garnered (as some kind of monstrous entity to negotiate with) has been purposely cultivated by Sony to avoid the inevitable public backlash from their backing out of the deal. It can't be used as evidence for Geno's likeliness over Sora.
I know HISTORICALLY speaking, the GCN era is seen as a stumbling point for Nintendo, but I feel like that was the best exclusive lineup of the generation. Seriously, think back on that lineup!
I mean, yes, but there are plenty of examples in Smash of Sakurai going "yeah but this dude would be fun!" despite being newer. Honestly, 2B is in a VERY similar position to Joker (newer protagonist from a JRPG with widespread acclaim that garnered considerable Western popularity and was developed by a company on good terms with Nintendo)
Persona just has the edge of being one of Sakurai's pet passions.
Nintendo gives options, Sakurai picks from the options.
Or do you guys really think that 3 of the DLC picks from Nintendo COINCIDENTALLY aligned with Sakurai's passions while ALSO barely promoting Nintendo as a company/brand?