© NintendoIt’s safe to say that this news story is really going to push the boundaries of what’s possible to talk about on a family-friendly website, but before we get started, this article won’t actually feature the image in question, but it is probably not safe to read at work, one of both. But then again, why are you reading about video games at work? Go back to your spreadsheets, Brian! Those reports will not file themselves!
Patreon has long been a (relatively) safe haven for NSFW artists, with the ‘adult games’ genre alone making some creators over $ 76,000 a month. One monthGood gravy.
3D artist AkkoArcade doesn’t do the kind of sums that need to be carried away in dollar-sign big bags like a Looney Tunes cartoon, but they still make a pretty decent $ 1,481 a month from their 3D models on Patreon. These detailed models can be paid for, downloaded and used for animations, except for one special model, no thanks to Nintendo.
AkkoArcade has one very lifelike version of, er, Bowser’s Jnr. (which we don’t link here for obvious reasons), offering it for download in June 2018. Nearly three years later, Nintendo of America apparently found it (or someone pretending to be Nintendo) and published a DMCA Takedown – a copyright claim forcing the creator to remove his artwork. We’re not attorneys, but we didn’t realize that Bowser’s copyright also covered his Dry Bones.
Nor is this the first time Nintendo has gotten their hands dirty with dirty content. Last year, they issued a DMCA takedown for a hentai-inspired game called “Peach’s Untold Tale.”
Things get a little muddy when it comes to what is and isn’t considered “fair use,” allowing people to use copyrighted material as long as their work is “transformative,” including parodies, comments, or criticism. Adult creators can easily lay claim to the “parody” defense, but including Nintendo in a legal battle is probably too much of a drain on the resources to bother.
Still, in slightly more optimistic news, several AkkoArcade fans responded to their tweet to point out that the 3D rendering of Bowser’s must have been FLUDD very accurate for Nintendo to insist that it be removed, making it canon. Again, we are not lawyers, but that sounds watertight to us.
So what do you think? Was this a dick from Nintendo, or is their case rock hard? Let us know in the comments.