Created in 2018, RTA in Japan (for real-time Attack) is the Japanese equivalent of Games Done Quick (or Speedons) with marathons broadcast on Twitch for the benefit of humanitarian organizations. Its last winter edition, in December 2024, made it possible to collect more than 17 million yen (around 100,000 euros) for doctors without borders. But this year, the organizers had to remove all the games published by Nintendo from their program.
In question, an exchange with the company indicating that each title Nintendo was to be subject to a specific authorization request, subject to a prior examination. Faced with the logistical magnitude of the process and the absence of guarantees on the answers, RTA in Japan preferred not to program Nintendo games, a first for the marathon. The brand’s absent will not miss: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario 64 or even Red and Blue Pokémon were classics of the event.
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Unfortunately, the case is not very surprising. For years, Nintendo has been distinguished by a particularly strict policy vis-à-vis the content generated by players, even in non-lucrative executives. In 2013, the firm had tried to monetize the videos of youtubers broadcasting its games, before retreating under pressure. On the side of Amateur Productions, Big had closed fans projects like AM2R (Amateur remake of Metroid II) or uranium pokémon (which persists beyond death), illustrating its desire to tolerate any unofficial use.
If RTA in Japan is hardly surprised, it still shocks by its absurdity. How to justify that passionate volunteers, working for a humanitarian cause, are sanctioned for not having asked Mario if they could play with her toys? We can only see it as a legalist and anachronistic policy, in reverse of community and participatory logics which today structure the relationship to video games. Meanwhile, other publishers do not hesitate to highlight the exploits of their speedrunners, or even sponsor these events. For example, SEGA had organized a speedrun tournament, on the occasion of the release of Sega Mega Drive Classics, in collaboration with the Speed Run community with live broadcasts on Twitch.
Some will surely go to quibble, saying that Nintendo has prohibited anything in the strictest sense of the term. But in fact, it is absolutely obvious that the RTA association would never have had the authorizations necessary for the public streaming of Nintendo games. When writing these lines, the Japanese firm did not officially comment on the current situation. In any case, the RTA Summer 2025 will take place from August 9 to 15, 2025.
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