Golden Guardians continues esports withdraw with release of top Smash Melee roster

After a three-year involvement in the Super Smash Bros. Melee scene, Golden Guardian’s parent company, the Golden State Warriors, has decided to refocus resources on traditional sports, leading to the decline in all its esports divisions.

Golden Guardians announced the shutdown of the Smash Melee roster, effective immediately, via the org’s Melee-specific Twitter account. The move means all five players under the GG banner, Kevin “PPMD” Nanney, Edgard “n0ne” L. Sheleby, Kris “Toph” Aldenderfer, Masaya “aMSa” Chikamoto, and Brandon “HomeMadeWaffles” Collier, have been released. All support staff behind the GG Melee social have also been released from the org.

GG made history in the FGC when they first signed Zain Nagami on Feb. 6, 2020. Zain went on to win multiple prestigious tournaments during his tenure, including Shine, the Ludwig Ahgren Championship Series Two, and Genesis Eight, before eventually being crowned the 2022 number-one player in the world by SSBMRank.

The Melee roster would later expand on April 2, 2021, with the signings of a number 18 player in the world n0ne, former god of Melee PPMD, and commentator Toph. The expansion was also the start of the GG Melee Youtube channel, where the team would post content videos, host the Radio Melee podcast with viewers, and start their own community tournaments, such as The Golden Gauntlet and The Octagon.

GG would continue to make a name as one of the most influential orgs throughout its three years by immediately giving back to the community with the Golden Guardians Grassroot Fund, which boosted the prize pools of major tournaments such as The Big House to help organically grow the melee scene.

Zain later departed from GG on March 29, 2023, but the org doubled down on its melee investment, signing number two player aMSa and commentator HomeMadeWaffles the next day. The GG Melee Youtube channel also announced follow-up community involvement events, including road trips to local Melee scenes, and directly worked with SSBMRank to present community tournaments like the online event Rollback Rumble.

The decision to withdraw from the Melee scene immediately follows GG’s exit from League of Legends ahead of the impending 2024 LCS season. The LCS roster was blindsided by the org’s decision to pull out of the league, leading to many players lamenting their position in the scene, going from guaranteed starter to a free agent in a single day.

Communication with the Melee division went much smoother, with players and staff notified prior to the team’s disbandment. All GG Melee players have left the org on good terms, and will still be supported through their transition period.