Nintendo Revokes Splatoon 3 World Championship Winners After Racist Remarks

After a month since speculations circulated online with Splatoon 3 World Championship winners, Jackpot, using racist slurs and phrases in Discord messages and calls, with some even sending targeted messages to other players, Nintendo has announced they will revoke and invalidate the team’s win.

really hope some of you read this and take something from it, the amount of times minorities express their discomfort with something within the community and just get turned away and told they’re overreacting is too many to count, niggas get too comfortable https://t.co/f7rPAUrOhC

— adapt🪷 (@adaptability_) June 11, 2024

For context, The Splatoon 3 World Championship is a competitive gaming event featuring the popular Nintendo game Splatoon 3. Although it is not as famous as other esports, such as League of Legends and Dota, it still brings together the best teams in the world from six different regions to compete in various game modes and stages unique to Splatoon 3.

In April, USA’s team Jackpot were victorious over their Japanese rivals, Phantom Thief of the Heart, and lifted the Nintendo’s Splatoon 3 World Championship. To commemorate their achievement, Splatoon 3 made an in-game banner featuring the four players, earning them the honour of being the first players in a Splatoon game. However, Nintendo now intends to remove them entirely from the game after disgracing their honour.

Also Read: Nintendo Direct 2024: Complete Recap of Everything Announced

Nintendo Announced Invalidations of Jackpot’s Splatoon 3 World Championship Win

Today, Nintendo Versus officially announced on its Twitter post that Jackpot’s Splatoon 3 World Championship win would be vacated, and the team would not receive trophies due to violating the company’s community guidelines. In their post, they wrote: “Nintendo cares deeply about our players and our community, and we take our responsibility to uphold our Community Guidelines seriously.”

An update on the 2024 Splatoon 3 World Championship: pic.twitter.com/pYUMQzmj7S

— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) July 23, 2024

Furthermore, Splatoon 3 had pledged to adjust the Splashtag (or in-game profile banner) it had added to the game to commemorate Jackpot’s win. While not confirmed, it is safe to assume they will remove the team’s characters from the banner and replace them with default characters. They could even replace the banner entirely with an unrelated banner to separate the game from these actions.

As for Jackpot’s win in the Splatoon 3 World Championship, Nintendo announced that Phantom Thief of the Heart would not retroactively receive the win after the announcement, and they will leave the World Championship with no official winner.

Splatoon 3 and Nintendo Earned Plaudits for Reinforcing Integrity

Splatoon 3 and Nintendo’s stance in revoking Jackpot’s win in the Splatoon 3 World Championship has earned them many plaudits, as many players felt their game should not condone this behaviour anywhere, less from the champions of said game.

While it has significant consequences for those involved, it helps ensure a level playing field and upholds the standards of professional conduct in the industry.

Attached are some notable bans for toxic and unsportsmanlike conduct from esports and gaming:

• League of Legends VCS: On March 18, 2024, Riot Games suspended 32 players of League of Legends Vietnam Championship Series, VCS Spring 2024, following the investigation of suspected match-fixing. The eight participating rosters have at least two players temporarily banned.
• Team Archon (CS Team): Team Archon faced a ban in 2020 due to allegations of match-fixing and cheating. The team’s players were accused of manipulating match results for financial gain. After investigations, the team disbanded, and the affected players faced suspensions and bans from various competitive events.

Also Read: Are Crash Bandicoot 5 and Phoenix Labs Project Cancelled?

Toxic Behaviour in Gaming Remains An Issue

Toxic behaviour in games refers to negative, disruptive, or harmful conduct exhibited by players within gaming communities. Unfortunately, while everyone condones it, toxic behaviour remains prevalent in the gaming industry. For example, harassment and bullying, such as insults, threats, and derogatory comments directed at other players, are often seen in many competitive multiplayer games.

In most situations, griefing and trolling are the issues that lead to the spiral of toxic behaviour as players actively engage in provocative or disruptive behaviour, such as intentionally sabotaging or hindering the gameplay experience of others to elicit negative reactions from other players.

Although game developers like Riot Games have implemented Vanguard to safeguard from more concerning matters such as cheating and scripting, toxic behaviour still requires a multifaceted approach before we can lessen it in games.

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