These days, Nintendo seems to be omnipresent in the media, from the record-breaking Super Mario Bros. movie, to the upcoming Tears of the Kingdom game and, more relevant to our purposes here, the trial, incarceration and early release of a man named Bowser. In case you haven’t heard, Gary Bowser was arrested back in 2020 for working as a salesman for Team Xecuter, a group responsible for selling tools that allowed gamers to “hack” into their respective consoles, such as the Nintendo Switch, which would in turn let them download pirated software for free.
Like anyone coming up in the age of early consoles, for me life used to be about Nintendo’s innocent IP. Their pure noble goals matched my youthful outlook on the world and there was nothing that could shake my love. The tough corporate reality behind Nintendo has never matched the beautiful fluffy imagery being beamed from their consoles, with the company always being fiercely protective of its IP. But the harsh rulings of the Bowser case, and other increasingly draconian cases of copyrights and lawsuits in recent years attacking everyone from YouTubers to modders, is starting to chip away at the years of goodwill the company's accrued with fans.
Even in their formative years, the gaming giant was already engaged in myriad judicial issues. It may be hard to wrap your head around the idea of “rental stores” these days, but one of the first lawsuits filed by Nintendo was against the massive video/game rental chain Blockbuster in 1989 for—get this—renting Nintendo games to customers and printing out instruction manuals without Nintendo’s permission (full story at CBR).
Just skimming through the decades, Nintendo’s litigious nature kept growing and growing. Starting with the Game Genie trial (via Nintendo Life), the game giant’s ire expanded, along with a zero-tolerance attitude towards anyone who would dare try to cheat them out of a yen. Soon, we were hearing stories left and right about victims of Nintendo’s crackdown, predominantly against “pirates” who showed a “willful disregard” towards Nintendo’s rights. Owners of ROM and emulator sites were hit with crippling settlement and legal fees in the millions.
While some of the legal action was justified, other aspects seemed borderline absurd. There was the popular Mario Kart-inspired vehicle rental service in Tokyo, MariCar Inc, which was cracked down upon and shut down by Nintendo, as well as well as and the fan-made efforts such as a scanned Super Mario 64 guide. Oh yeah, even Discord got a taste of the plumber’s fury.
Just when you thought these guys couldn’t get any more dystopian, in February of this year, 200 pages from a Tears of the Kingdom art book were leaked on Discord from an unknown source. According to TorrentFreak, Nintendo got straight to work slapping Discord with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) subpoena to disclose the name, address, telephone number and email address of the leaker, whom we only know as user Julien#2743.
The consequences of Julien#2743’s leak are yet to be seen, but Discord had no choice but to comply with the iron-clad subpoena and reveal their contact information. As Nintendo seems to be characteristically taking the entire thing extremely seriously, Julien#2743 could well be in for a long legal ride. Feast your eyes on the entire subpoena here.
Then there's Eric “PointCrow” Morino. A popular Youtuber who’s logged hundreds of hours of game time on his channel, Morino specializes in self-modded versions of Breath of the Wild, with speedrunner and multiplayer versions garnering millions of views.
On April 6th 2023, Nintendo blocked Morino’s BotW speedruns, and subsequently struck off 24 of his videos (via Eurogamer). Despite a heartfelt plea from Morino to the suits at Nintendo about a dialogue, he was only met with silence, which was a blown opportunity on Nintendo’s part to show a human face amidst all this.
And so, we finally come to the Bowser case, which has become high-profile not because of the piracy aspect, but mostly because of the severity of the sentence. While piracy is not something to condone, Bowser’s guilty verdict called to mind the old adage “let the punishment fit the crime”, and as evidence showed, his sentence of 40 months in prison, as well as a total of $14.5 million in penalties, was far in excess of the offense and the $320,000 in revenue he made while with Team Xecuter.
Bowser's since been released early on good behavior, according to TorrentFreak, but is still obligated to fulfill his end of the penalty charges, which he said in an interview means that 15-30% of the income he earns for the rest of his life will be going to Nintendo, like they need the extra revenue. It underscores Nintendo's hypersensitivity at anyone who dares to mess with their IP without going through the official red-taped front door. Even the most sincere fans aren't exempt.
At the end of the day, the lawsuits and fines may work in the short-term, but by shutting down communication, ratcheting up lawsuits and stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that the gaming world has changed since 1985, the mega corporation is starting to look a little villainous, which is a brutal contrast to the welcoming, wildly imaginative image it's nurtured through its games over the years.
Blatant piracy that earns revenue is unethical, and copyright laws are, well, weird and easily abused, but it's Nintendo's bloodthirsty aggression in cracking down on it that's troubling. Why the overkill? Confucius said "do not use a cannon to kill a mosquito", and in many ways, by trying to make so many examples out of the perpetrators, Nintendo is shooting themselves in the foot as well. Fan-made mods generate the hype and fervor that Nintendo needs for its current and future titles, while emulation has significant benefits concerning preservation. But Nintendo obtusely continues to hide its head in the sand and keep blasting its copyright cannon.
Never thought I’d say this out loud, but my once warm fuzzy feelings for Nintendo are slowly being replaced with revulsion. Reading about litigation after disproportionate litigation, I feel my affection beginning to wane, as is natural in a toxic relationship. If this kind of thing continues, Nintendo, we may have a real problem. Drop the ego, drop the hate and drop these unnecessary lawsuits before I (and others) ultimately drop you.