Nintendo really needs to sort itself out

Everyone disliked that

So the other week or so back there was this little hubbub around some person from the Stadia team who thought it made the utmost sense for streamers to spend their money on acquiring licenses before they provided free marketing; because otherwise they were acting like a bunch of freeloaders. Now obviously all that really did was lionize everyone with critical thinking skills to point out all the ways that would be literal self sabotage for these companies to engage in, but in doing so we were reminded of another game company who had, once upon a time, implemented exactly that thing which Alex was talking about. Because, you see, Nintendo were once in the position of people with no scruples that would crack down on anyone playing their games unless they agreed to some archaic sponsorship program that most people just laughed in the face of. The result was that during the launch of their last console, The Wii U, whilst everyone was confused about what it even was, Nintendo was actively strangling all free coverage of the console and it's games from the public. You'd think the abject failure of the Wii U would then prove a point of learning for Nintendo.

But that would be hoping a little too hard, it would seem, because Nintendo have recently revealed that they very much intend to stretch their muscles over simple issues that could easily be resolved by cooler minds, that's just their prerogative nowadays. Though they've recently abandoned the Sponsorship program, realising that was a literal self assassination, they are eager to prove to the wider gaming world that they still aren't ready to be taken seriously through more juvenile antics. There's so many reasons why Nintendo are considered backwards, and almost all of them come back to policy choices that the Japanese offices implemented and the international offices have broken their backs over rectifying. Though I think this latest scandal is going to require a little more than an apology in order to smooth over considering the damage it left for consumer trust. I certainly would be thinking twice about streaming in these folks shoes.

If you've not heard, then buckle up because we've got a total of two incredulous stories coming our way out of the Nintendo space, and one I absolutely do not understand one as much as the other so you'll have to bear with me. First lets start with the one I do understand, and this one is probably the more comprehensive; (Although, you know, only if you are accepting of absolute incompetence) Nintendo went around on a copyright spree striking down those that streamed 'Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity' early. Now I know what you're thinking; "they're well within their rights to do that, no? What were these streamers doing playing the game early, how did they even get it?" Well, as it turns out, they got it early because the game released; apparently Nintendo of Japan are new to the concept of 'timezones' and no one thought it prudent to remind them.

The other big issue troubling the Nintendo fan world is, again, something I have trouble understanding, but do try to bear with me for a while. So tournaments have been a culture that's taken a hit due to the pandemic, as folk aren't allowed to meet together, but some people have found ways around this by hosting 'at home' tournaments utilising infrastructure to accommodate for that in the fairest possible way. A old-school smash tournament was using a service called 'Slippi' in order to emulate Smash Bros. Brawl because it would hold online framework which obviously no longer functions in the original game, and in doing so found themselves hit with a cease and desist from Nintendo for daring to emulate a 12 year old game which absolutely is not generating income for them in today's day and age. (I imagine you can see the issue here.)

So that's two gaffes for the price of one, woowee, Nintendo sure knows how to stack them! First there's the debacle with the release time zones, harmless enough as a concept but still indicative of supreme incompetence on Nintendo's end. What is less harmless is the way that Nintendo went after people, throwing around weighty copyright claims that have the potential to harm one's entire Twitch or Youtube Channel, all for providing free coverage of an anticipated title. Quite honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this has a blowback on the amount of folk willing to cover a Nintendo game, and rightly so! Apologies should be the absolute least of their actions, there needs to be active attempts on Nintendo's end to rectify these bans and get this mark expunged from records, that is the only way in which Nintendo can start to win back support.

Then there's the 'Slippi' issue and this one is a bit more nuanced, because whilst this is another undeniable screw up on Nintendo's end, this is also part of their antiquated policy and there will be no walkbacks on this matter. Nintendo want it to be known that they are deathly against Emulation, because it hurts their own business of reselling old games at a premium, thus they'll defend that platform until they legally cannot anymore. It's archaic, draconian and especially moronic given the climate we currently live in, where people are making the utmost through concessions in order to celebrate their fandom of Nintendo products, but we're arguing against the money here and that will never end up in our court. As sad as it is to say, I don't see the Smash brawl tournaments happening this year, Nintendo just don't have that empathy within them.

To be clear, I have no personal gripes with Nintendo for either of these issues, I come from them purely as an outsider looking in, which is why it should be a little telling how I find it hard to see Nintendo's point of view in either case. The first case is inexcusable and they deserve to feel like idiots for messing it up, whilst the second is a butting of heads that was entirely uncalled for. We've know for a while that Nintendo tend to get overzealous whenever one of their big brands is threatened, but this was merely an emulation job done in order to hold a tournament, this was supposed to be positive press; something which I feel like companies becoming increasingly blind to the larger they grow. I know it's insane to imply that Nintendo should have turned the other cheek in this case, (Why change the habit of a lifetime, right?) but given the reasoning behind it, a literal global pandemic which made this event impossible without emulation, guess who ends up looking like the unequivocal badguy here.

Nintendo are grandfathers to the gaming industry, one of the few still around after the trials of the past decades wiped most of the others out, but that doesn't mean they aren't capable of updating their polices. Much of the reason why Nintendo isn't taken as seriously as Sony and Microsoft comes from the absolute disdain with which Nintendo views modern media, and whilst that remains the case these executives are only managing to actively harm their own bottom line. So many of these industry's problems could be solved by high level reshuffling, to the point where it isn't even funny. Poor form, Nintendo, poor form.