There was a time whenNintendogames sparked my imagination, along with those of game developers worldwide, butthe Nintendo of today is little more than a boogeyman, frightening the next generation of game makers, and protecting its IP like a fire-breathing Bowser, with no empathy for those it burns. I would love to return to the innocent days when I would have canonized Shigeru Miyamoto, and when I could play aMariogame and enjoy the timeless charm of platforming bliss without thinking of the company’s ruthless legal department and its heartless litigation. Game developers have it far worse.
Every timeNintendo sues ROM websites for millions, some fans will leap to the company’s defense, parroting empty rhetoric that the company has the right to protect its Intellectual Property against piracy. These defenders tend to quiet down when they seeNintendo’s history of taking legal action against non-profit fan games, sheet music, and gaming tournaments that promote their own products. The massive array of video game-related patents the company has accrued is the current albatross around the neck of the entire video game industry. Nintendo can sue nearly anyone at any time that they get in the company’s crosshairs.
Nintendo Has A Notoriously Ruthless & Aggressive Legal Team
Nothing Is Safe From Nintendo’s Litigation, From Tournaments To Sheet Music
The lawsuit against Tropic Haze made it clear thatNintendo will annihilate video game preservationin favor of its bottom line, asit shut down the two most promising Nintendo Switch emulators, while creating a fear-based deterrent to any future emulation endeavors. For every case that goes to trial, there are many more incidents where a cease and desist frightens a small indie developer or a fan project into submission. Nintendo is among the most profitable companies in Japan. The party with deeper pockets wins by default in most legal matters. Those challenged typically settle out of fear of Nintendo.
Nintendo needlessly chose to pursue relentless legal actions, without concern for ethics or consequences, creating an industry-wide chilling effect.
WhileNintendo shut downSmash Bros. tournamentsthat used mods, and will routinely bully nonprofit developers into removing free fan games, it continues to rake in massive profits from its Switch hardware and video game sales. The same law firm Nintendo retained to drive Switch emulation to extinction, Adler Pollock & Sheehan, proudly boasts of its efforts in representing the state of Rhode Island in its efforts to withhold pension benefits from retirees and defending aviation-related wrongful death suits. As reported byAutomaton, Nintendo’s patent attorney Koji Nishiura attempted to justify the company’s infamous scare tactics to dismantle emulation projects.
The survival gamePalworldmay change because of Nintendo, asthe company reached into its bottomless bag of video game-related patents for any excuse to take the game down a peg. It is well-known that Nintendo went on a spree of patenting nearly any game design concept it could think of, like detecting a hidden enemy by seeing its shadow from behind a tree. This is an example of something so intuitive that it might not be legally defensible, much like catching a monster in a ball, but being legally right is meaningless if you can’t afford the fight.
The Next Generation Of Developers Are Afraid Of Nintendo
Unethical Litigation Creates A Toxic Environment For Future Game Makers
Video game historian John Szczepaniak was a guest lecturer at TechnoCampus University in Spain last year. As reported byTime Extension, Nintendo’s massive array of patents, andthe company’s lack of scruples towards filing unethical lawsuits, has become a source of real fear for prospective game makers. Szczepaniak said, “Students then described their fears over Nintendo’s excessive litigation, given they will literally sue you for anything these days. This cannot be overemphasized: the young, passionate, hopeful creators of tomorrow are afraid to explore their artistic urges in case Nintendo attacks them.” The company that once inspired imagination now inspires fear.
Nintendo’s Most Worrying Trend Could Cause Problems For Switch 2
This recent trend across several of Nintendo’s games has been criticized by fans and developers, and it may end up being an issue for the Switch 2.
Completely free-to-play fan projects are abandoned out of concern for legal action. AMother 4fan game was renamedOddity, and appears to have gone radio silent, along with many other fan-made projects that have dried up in recent years. Numerous fantastic video games have built off Nintendo’s creations, likeBraid’s subversive take onMario, orTunic’s deconstruction of theZeldaformula. Many of today’s best-known developers grew up with Nintendo games and hardware, andthose experiences encouraged them to enter the industry. Now, Nintendo’s bullying and Draconian legal tactics are more likely to kill any dream of game development.
The next generation of game makers have good reason to fear Nintendo’s looming shadow over the industry.
TheNintendo Switch outsold the PS1 and Wiiyears ago, and Switch 2 will likely continue the momentum. Nintendo notoriously sells hardware with a profit margin, where most gaming consoles are sold at a loss. First-party Switch games that are years old still rarely see markdowns in their prices. All of this adds to the fact that Nintendo is not hurting for money. The company does not need to crack down on games likePalworld, emulation, and fan projects, to stay profitable.Nintendo needlessly chooses to pursue relentless legal actions, without concern for ethics or consequences, creating an industry-wide chilling effect.
Aspiring Game Devs Once Inspired By Nintendo Now Fear Reprisal
Nintendo Crushes The Hobby’s Future In Its Zeal To Protect Its IPs
For any misguided fans who think this is simply the legal system rendering justice, the result in whichNintendo won the Joy-Con lawsuitalone is proof thatbeing morally, or even legally, in the right, has little to do with outcomes in litigation. Joy-Con drift is an undeniable fact, making it clear justice has no bearing in these matters. The ability to outspend the other party decides the outcome far more often than any issues of fact or precedent, as parties are forced to settle to mitigate risk and further mounting expenses. Few defendants can match Nintendo’s infamously deep pockets.
Nintendo has filed more than 8,000 patents, and those named in the company’s lawsuit againstPalworlddeal with basic, universal video game mechanics no company should claim ownership over, like aiming and firing an object at another character, or a flying mount being able to both fly and walk on the ground.
I wish I could return to the time when I could be unabashedly excited about a new Nintendo console, but now,I am constantly torn by the knowledge that every purchase funds a video game company that is inherently hostile to the medium of video games. As much as Nintendo once contributed to the art of video games, today, the company clearly views things through the lens of IP protection and maximizing profit, not furthering the art form or preserving it for the future. The next generation of game makers have good reason to fearNintendo’s looming shadow over the industry.
