This is a better take, but on the other hand, every 3rd party character inherently reaches a vaster demographic than a 1st party one (yeah, even Banjo). My point is, they're not mindlessly adding the biggest and most selling franchises with the widest reach like you often hear in speculation. You're never going to see something like League of Legends get a character in Smash. All the choices so far have been pretty deeply ingrained in hardcore gaming culture, and with a notable Nintendo presence in most cases.
Though Joker is certainly here for the new demographics, but I think he's as "extreme" as we're gonna see.
I wasn't saying that reaching new demographics is the only priority - but it's a factor in how companies work. It's not the end-all-be-all, that was never my argument, my point is I wouldn't be surprised by such a "promotional" pick in the future.
I do agree that the "reaching the fans" aspect is incredibly important, since it's why Smash was made in the first place. One can see how much work Sakurai / Sora Ltd. puts into Joker (Arsene, custom victory screen, etc.) and Hero (entire submenu, four different characters etc.). That's work done out of love for both Persona 5 and DQ. That's also balanced one way or the other with profit. Both factors allow the series to keep going.
And, finally, I should preface this segment by saying that I'm a MOBA fan, specifically Dota 2 (having been introduced to Dota 1 in 2004). While Dota 2 has a deep rivalry with LoL, I'd argue both games are in the video game hall of fame. Unpleasant fans aside, those two games have helped shape multiplayer games - and the online ecosystem - for the past 10-15 years (Sidenote: LoL and Dota 2 are about as old as Minecraft). Both games have significant - and intensely loyal - hardcore following who worship / loathe the characters and important people involved, they have been at the center of sea changes within the video game industry and have been consistently in the spotlight with Valve's / Riot's actions.
One genre even spawned / mutated earlier this year on Dota 2's custom map editor, the Auto Battler (no, really), which began with Auto Chess. Reminder: MOBAs mutated from the RTS genre, specifically WarCraft III's map editor. So this is a mutation on a mutation [Insert old Xzibit meme here]. I'm bringing this up since there was a rumor that Valve was bringing its Auto Battler,
Dota Underlords, to the Switch. It turned out to be the ability to switch platforms on the fly (Start a match on your PC or Android / iOS phone, continue and finish it on the other platform). Still, I wouldn't be surprised if a Dota 2 character becomes theoretically possible for Smash because of a later Dota Underlords Switch port. As stupid as it sounds. Hey, Joker came with Persona Q2 conviniently enough.
Dota 2's the smaller one and completely unknown in Japan, but it has boasted a 10 million plus player count (give or take smurfs etc.) the last 6 years. LoL's even more pervasive. In short, I don't think a LoL / Dota 2 character would be a "shill" pick. It would be leaning towards a "introduce Nintendo fans to MOBA characters and vice versa" pick at this point, since MOBAs are old enough.
Glad you brought this up, because I am firmly of the belief that we will get a character that caters to China. I don't think it will have anything to do with Tencent, however. Though, at this point, I don't think SNK is an option, even if I thought so before.
https://www.dualshockers.com/snk-in...-gender-bent-terry-rebooting-old-series-much/
Oh, that's a major shame. Thanks, TIL. I'm really struggling to see a Chinese-aimed pick - other than SNK - that wouldn't raise loads of eyebrows in the Smash scene. For example I'd imagine that most Smashers would react to a theoretical LoL / Dota 2 character with a collective "WTF? Why?".
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