It’s no secret that despite Nintendo being one of the greatest and longest-lasting video game publishers/developers in the world, they aren’t always “with it” regarding their fans. On one hand, they have been trying to publish great content for gamers over the years. Even when their consoles don’t hit well, their software titles often rock, as 2023 easily proves. However, they have been rather restrictive when it comes to what fans DO with their games and how they have fun with others. Today, Nintendo published new “community guidelines” for those wishing to set up tournaments, which are pretty strict.
We have the full posting in the tweet below, but here are some of the highlights:
“Thank you for sharing your passion for Nintendo’s games, characters and worlds. Nintendo cares about the community and would like to support individuals who want to celebrate that passion by creating memorable co-operative and competitive play experiences. At the same time, we want to ensure that fans who are doing so are engaging with our games, characters, and worlds in a way that positively supports other fans, players and Nintendo.
In that spirit, we have created guidelines for individual Organisers to follow when hosting not-for-profit, small scale community tournaments (Community Tournaments) involving games for which Nintendo owns the copyright (Nintendo games).”
At first, none of this seems odd or “out of place,” as The Big N has rights that they can exercise regarding their titles. But when you dig deeper into the rules and regulations, you see that they are VERY restrictive on what people can and cannot do for these tournaments that, to be blunt, really shouldn’t need much oversight given their size.
Plus, they make it clear that if anyone violates these rules, they’ll come down hard on them:
“Nintendo reserves the right to take legal action against or cancel any Community Tournaments in its sole discretion, including any tournaments that violate or are likely to violate these guidelines, or Community Tournaments that Nintendo otherwise deems inappropriate. In addition, we may take measures such as prohibiting individuals who violate these guidelines, or engage in other inappropriate acts, from hosting tournaments in the future.”
So yeah, as you can see, The Big N is taking this really far, and you have to wonder how they’ll be able to monitor everything going on across certain countries and regions. But then again, maybe that’s a challenge they’re willing to take on.
