During Nintendo’s ‘84th annual general meeting of shareholders‘, company president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about how Nintendo deals with “instances on social media where Nintendo IP and games are used inappropriately” when “the behavior poses a risk of damaging the value” of its brand.
While Furukawa would not comment on any “individual cases”, he mentioned that “adequate measures must be taken against any behavior that undermines” the Japanese company’s policy towards “make smiles through fun“. It will also “continue to make every effort to ensure” th at its “consumers do not feel uncomfortable” when they come into contact with Nintendo’s IP “not only” in its games but also “anywhere else” they come across in contact ” with it.
Shuntaro Furukawa: “Our company aims to realize our management policy to ‘make smiles through fun’ by proposing unique games that everyone 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 users do not feel uncomfortable, not only in our games but everywhere they come into contact with our IP. “
Although no specific cases were mentioned, such as Eurogamer notes, it was a time in 2018 when a fan creation known as Bowsette (a combination of Peach and Bowser) went viral on social media and elsewhere on the internet. Nintendo’s official response at the time was “no comment” and eventually the frenzy for the fan-made character died down.
In addition to social media, Nintendo has turned to a host of other online fan projects that it has deemed inappropriate and potentially damaging to its brand value. In September 2020, he set his sights on a wicked fan-made game starring Princess Peach. He recently filed a DMCA against a fan-made remix of Rhythm Heaven, and this week he continued his crackdown on Switch Piracy by filing two new lawsuits.
