Nintendo has found itself under fire after it sent a cease-and-desist letter in September to a creator for selling custom Joy-Con shells that were created in honor of Desmond “Etika” Amofah. All proceeds from the shells had been donated to a mental health and suicide prevention charity.
Content creator CptnAlex (Thanks, VGC) had created custom ‘Etikon’ Joy-Con shells in August 2019. The controller shells were created in memory of Etika, a prominent member of the Nintendo community who took his own life last year. Alex shared that over $10,000 had been raised by the end of 2019, with proceeds being donated to the JED Foundation, a mental health and suicide prevention charity.
On December 7, 2020, YouTube channel JoyConBoyz uploaded a video titled “Nintendo hates us” in which CptnAlex reveals that Nintendo sent him a cease-and-desist in September due to the custom shells baring the Joy-Con logo and phrase. JoyConBoyz also uploaded an image on Twitter claiming that Nintendo had filed a copyright claim against the video.
In the below tweet, Alex shares an image of the cease-and-desist letter that orders him to halt production and sales of the shells, and the trademarked images and words owned by Nintendo.
First campaign was not successful.
Second campaign was successful.
Remaining stock of Joycons were for sale my Etsy since last year.
Nintendo sent me a cease and desist at the end of September.
Here’s a picture of me with a bin of all the shells I can’t sell anymore pic.twitter.com/ytdWzObh9x
— CptnAlex (@Cptn_Alex) December 7, 2020
Alex has been responding to comments on Twitter since the video caused “Nintendo” and “Etika” to trend on the social media platform. Responding to one user he details that “500 shells” were produced last year, with “Approximately 300” going to backers from IndieGoGo. “the other 200 were on Etsy”. He has also explained that he holds a “resellers license and pay taxes” and that he’s now modifying most of his designs and removing the copyrighted image and phrase.
It does appear as if Alex plans to bring the Joy-Con’s back, just with some design changes. And from the sounds of it, those designs may be available to purchase from the Etsy page he brings up.
The post Nintendo Issued Cease-and-Desist Over Etika Joy-Con Shells That Raised $10k for Charity by Ben Bayliss appeared first on DualShockers.