During Nintendo’s ‘84th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders‘, company president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about how Nintendo deals with “cases on social media where Nintendo IP and games are used inappropriately” when the “behavior poses the risk of damaging the value” of its brand.
While Furukawa didn’t want to comment on any “individual cases”, he did mention how “appropriate action must be taken against any behaviour that undermines” the Japanese company’s policy to “bring smiles through entertainment“. It will also “continue to make every effort to ensure” that its “consumers are not made to feel uncomfortable” when coming into contact with Nintendo’s IP “not only” in its games but also “anywhere” else “they come into contact” with it.
Shuntaro Furukawa: “Our company aims to achieve our management policy to “bring smiles through entertainment” by proposing unique games that anyone can intuitively enjoy. I will refrain from commenting on individual cases, but we believe that appropriate action must be taken against any behavior that undermines this policy.
“Our goal is to create an environment where everyone can enjoy playing games. We will continue to make every effort to ensure that our consumers are not made to feel uncomfortable, not only in our games but also anywhere they come into contact with our IP.”
Although no specific cases were mentioned, as Eurogamer notes, there was a time in 2018 when a fan creation known as Bowsette (a mashup of Peach and Bowser) went viral on social media and elsewhere online. Nintendo’s official response at the time was “no comment” and eventually the craze for the fan-made character passed.
Beyond social media, Nintendo has targeted plenty of other fan projects online it has deemed inappropriate and potentially damaging to the value of its brand. In September 2020 it set its sights on a naughty fan-made game starring Princess Peach. More recently, it filed a DMCA against a fan-made Rhythm Heaven remix and this week it continued its crackdown on Switch Piracy filing two new lawsuits.
