COVER Corporation, owner of VTuber agency Hololive Japan, issued a statement on April 9 regarding a recent livestream by their talent Usada Pekora, after receiving guidance from Nintendo. While there’s no official confirmation about whether the VTuber really used a hacked cartridge or not, Nintendo has requested for the livestream in question to be delisted, and advised Hololive to steer clear of projects that could have them in potential risk of breaking Nintendo’s livestream guidelines.
The livestream which sparked the controversy took place on March 29, when the VTuber took on the challenge of finding a shiny Mew in Pokémon Emerald. The idea behind the livestream was that she’d buy a bunch of used Emerald cartridges until she finds “the old sea map,” an item that was only distributed in person at a Japanese Pokémon convention in 2005. Only by acquiring the item is the player allowed to encounter a Mew.
However, as Mew is an extremely rare Pokémon to find in Emerald, some players would resort to hacking their cartridge to get it – and there is a high chance that, as Usada Pekora bought large numbers of used cartridges off auction websites, a hacked cartridge came into her possession and ended up on stream, thus potentially violating Nintendo’s guidelines. Japanese fans were quick to notice that something may be off regarding the version of the game she was using, and the resulting controversy on social media prompted COVER to seek guidance from Nintendo.
In response to Nintendo’s requests, COVER Corp. has apologized to fans, and assured them that, in addition to making the video private, the company will take more precautionary measures and raise awareness among their staff and talents in order to prevent any similar incidents.
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