Good Games, Bad Marketing

Taking a closer look at Nintendo’s protectonist and archaic approach to intellectual property

Nintendo has seen it all. For a company as old as time itself (when concerning video games), they have managed to weather through seven generations of consoles while still maintaining their position as an industry leader. Their remarkable commitment to quality and constant innovation is what keeps Nintendo a household name, even after all these years. Mario has been part of the quintessential childhood experience for kids born in both the 1960s and 2000s, sparking a love for gaming regardless of age. Only now are they beginning to lag behind their competitors in some key domains, showing cracks in their youthful appearance through some archaic practices.

With the meteoric rise of user-generated content in the past decade, many companies have adopted new approaches to their marketing directives and goals. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the realm of gaming content creation, which exists in a strange legal zone still to this day. While companies could easily issue DMCA or copyright claims against creators playing their copyrighted games, especially in a “let’s play” or play through format, many turn a blind eye due to the publicity they generate. As platforms like YouTube and Newgrounds grew in size, consistently…