UPDATE 09/12/20: After Nintendo sent a cease and desist to the creator of Etika-themed Joy-Con shells that were being sold for charity, the design of those shells has now been modified – and the product has already met its first fundraising goal.
Earlier this week creator CptnAlex indicated he wanted to release a new design for the shells, minus the Joycon Boyz and Switch logo references, which were seemingly the trademarks causing the trouble. CptnAlex set up a new fundraising round to pay for the production of the altered design, and it’s currently sitting at £4.2k, meaning it’s already made the initial fundraising goal of $5k (£3.7k) required to fund the initial production run.
The shells cost $35 (£26) per set, with 30 per cent going to the JED Foundation (an American charity for mental health and suicide prevention), and the remaining amount covering production costs. If the fundraiser reaches its $10k (£7.4k) goal then a backplate design will be funded. The fundraising pool closes in 18 hours, so if you want to contribute you’ll need to donate today.
In the aftermath of the cease and desist news, other community members encouraged Nintendo fans to donate to the JED Foundation in Etika’s memory, while others have indicated they plan to host charity livestreams for the foundation. Hopefully some good can come from this situation after all.
I know we’re mad, but let’s remember what the Etika Joycon’s symbolized and fought for. They fought for preventing suicide and keeping others alive.
Please donate if you can to the original Foundation that was organized for the Etika Joycons. https://t.co/0eYThQou5C pic.twitter.com/0kT8NrAFAk
— 👑✨JTX✨👑 (@JTX_TV) December 7, 2020
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ORIGINAL STORY 07/12/20: The last few weeks have been a rather tumultuous period for Nintendo and its fan communities, to say the least. After a Super Smash Bros. tournament was shut down by Nintendo for its plans to use third-party software to run the event online, several teams in the Splatoon 2 North American Open used “Free Melee” hashtags in their names to protest the decision. The livestream for the Splatoon 2 finals was then cancelled, further upsetting fans who felt Nintendo had intervened.
Now, Nintendo appears to have angered fans once again, after sending a cease and desist letter to a custom Joy-Con creator who was selling Etika-themed shells for charity.
Content creator CptnAlex, who runs an Etsy store selling custom controllers, said he was sent a cease and desist from Nintendo covering all his products – and the Etikons were caught up in the mix. “While [Nintendo] didn’t specifically tell me why each design was taken down, they did include a list of copyrights my designs broke, and the word Joy-Con was on that list,” CptnAlex said. “This is my only design specifically with the word Joy-Con on it, so that’s obviously what they were referencing when they attached that.”