Many of Nintendo's own fans have become fed up with their recent actions regarding a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament receiving a cease and desist order from the trading card company-turned video game publisher. According to Nintendo's statement, the tournament was shut down due to how it utilized an emulated version of Melee to use the fan-made rollback netcode for the game. Any form of the competitive tournament being held during the current pandemic would need to be held online, and without functioning netcode, the Smash series would see little competitive play.
The hashtag "#FreeMelee" trended on Twitter as Smash fans voiced their displeasure with how the series as a whole has been treated as of recent. Members of the fighting game community also chimed it to compare Nintendo's treatment of Smash on a competitive level to other publishers, noting that Nintendo has had a history of providing competitive Smash with far less support than what is normally expected for a fighting game.
This incident is only one of the many reasons why Nintendo fans have begun to turn on the company. Nintendo has already shut down several fan games, such as an HD remake of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Battle Royale. Not only that, but Nintendo has also been a notoriously difficult company for streamers and content creators, as they are known for frequently claiming YouTube videos that cover Nintendo games.
The case could be made that Nintendo is simply protecting its intellectual property. In the case of Super Mario Battle Royale, the timeline does line up for Nintendo to have been working on Super Mario Bros. 35, which could have run into problems if there was another Mario-themed battle royale game on the market as well, especially one available for free on a non-Nintendo platform. However, simply shutting fan projects down only serves to reflect poorly on the publisher.
SEGA has taken a different approach to fangames that only benefited how their fans viewed the company. Sonic Mania was developed by a team of fans known for their work in both the fangame and ROM hacking communities. In the past, SEGA has even used its official Sonic accounts to promote the creation of fan games further. Famously, in 2016 the official Sonic Youtube account commented on a "Let's Play" of the fangame Green Hill Paradise Act 2, encouraging fans to keep making fangames.
Even though Sonic games may have had a rocky last few years with less-than-stellar titles like Sonic Forces and Sonic Boom, SEGA is still seen in a more favorable light than Nintendo due to the respect they give their fans, with SEGA continuing to support games like Sonic Mania to this day. Promoting and even directly supporting creators who work on these passion projects will always be the better option for everyone involved.
Community is a huge part of how many games thrive. Scott Cawthorn, creator of the Five Nights at Freddy's series, understands this more than most modern developers. Earlier this year, he announced The Fazbear Fanverse Initiative, which is an effort to support fangame creators in the community. Cawthorn will be funding and providing publishing for several popular FNAF fangames, along with getting them released on consoles and producing merch.
Seeing a solo-developer like Cawthorn goes to these lengths to support the FNAF community emphasizes just how badly Nintendo treats their fans. When people are inspired to create amazing and original projects based on some of their favorite video games, shutting those projects down by threatening legal intervention only discourages new creative minds from entering the video game industry. Many important figures at Nintendo stress the idea of enjoyment being the most important quality of a game. Yet, they can't seem to see the benefit of supporting games people enjoy.
Nintendo needs to treat their fans better for its own sake. Nintendo games have inspired countless people to enter the video game industry and apply their creativity to their passion, but the company itself continues to stamp out young creators who're trying to establish themselves. Fangames serve as a way for creators to build their work portfolio and get their start as developers. For example, the team behind Super Smash Flash was recently able to launch an incredibly successful Kickstarter for the Super Smash Bros-inspired Fraymakers.
Nintendo's public image could greatly improve if Nintendo changed its policy on fan content and started supporting the community. Not only would the company's fans feel respected, but they'd also help to bring so many creators into the industry who may otherwise feel discouraged after having their projects bullied out of existence by a corporation at big as Nintendo. Companies like SEGA have already been taking steps towards supporting fan projects. It's about time Nintendo figures this out too.