Nintendo Announces Action Will Be Taken Against Inappropriate Creations That Make Players ‘Uncomfortable’

Nintendo plans to determine consequences for using its characters for “inappropriate” creations.

Nintendo has no shortage of beloved characters in franchises like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda , an audience that continues to grow as new, excellent titles come out and the characters find their way into new types of media. Those characters are beloved by fans, but they also come with fan-created content, and if you’ve been on the internet for more than a day, you know that those depictions aren’t always the most PG-rated — often well beyond PG-13. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa spoke about that content and how the company plans to handle it going forward. While no specific consequences were discussed, he made it clear that Nintendo intends to protect its intellectual property and overall image as best it can.

At a recent shareholder meeting, Furukawa was asked to comment on how the company will address “instances on social media where Nintendo’s intellectual property and games are used inappropriately,” with the shareholder noting that such content poses a “risk of harming the value of Nintendo’s intellectual property.”

“Our company aims to implement our management policy of ‘bringing smiles through entertainment’ by providing unique games that everyone can intuitively enjoy. I will refrain from commenting on individual cases, but we believe that appropriate action should be taken against any behavior that violates this policy,” the statement begins. “Our goal is to create an environment where everyone can enjoy playing games. We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that our consumers do not feel uncomfortable, not only in our games, but also anywhere they come into contact with our intellectual property.”

The shareholders’ meeting was not limited to the inappropriate use of characters, Furukawa was also asked to speak out on “cases where other companies offer products and services that appear to infringe on these intellectual property rights.” On this subject, Furukawa stated that the company would continue to take appropriate measures against violations in order to “continue to create new ways to play so that people can deepen their attachment to our characters and intellectual property.”

The inappropriate and unauthorized use of Nintendo characters and IP wasn’t the only topic discussed at the shareholders’ meeting. Furukawa also discussed the development time of games, when the company will be handed over to younger developers, and that he would like to consider distributing Nintendo game soundtracks. You can read the full article here.