Nintendo is notorious for its strict legal action against emulation, leaks, and even YouTube videos. Only recently, Gary Bowser got out of prison after three years for hacking the 3DS and Switch, but he still owes Nintendo $10 million, a number he cannot feasibly pay off. Nintendo's reputation is so well-known that a Switch emulator shut down prior to Tears of the Kingdom's launch to avoid "potential legal risks".
But today, a father and son have flipped the table and filed a potential class action lawsuit against Nintendo.
As reported by Axios, the lawsuit pertains to Mario Kart Tour's "immoral" microtransactions, AKA the Spotlight Pipe loot boxes. These were actually removed in September, 2022 after three years on the market. Purchased with a premium currency, Rubies, they would give out a random item such as a driver, kart, or glider. While they are no longer purchasable - swapped out for a storefront - the suit calls on Nintendo to refund all purchases made by minors.
The father and son allege that the game is designed to be difficult to progress in without making purchases. They also claim that Nintendo used "dark patterns" which means to trick consumers into spending more money, and these practices allegedly violate Washington State's Consumer Protection Act as well as California's business law.
Combining the two, the duo claim that Nintendo "capitalized on and encouraged addictive behaviors akin to gambling". The father and son also have first-hand experience, as it was revealed that the son (labelled 'N.A.') spent $170 on Mario Kart Tour microtransactions using his father's credit card. Neither were named in the suit, which was acctually filed in March, only appearing on the federal docket last week after moving out of state court.
This isn't the first time in recent history that average Joes have tried to sue a gigantic gaming corporation. Amidst the still-ongoing Microsoft Activision Blizzard King merger, ten gamers in San Fransisco filed a federal antitrust lawsuit to halt the deal from going through. They claimed that "Microsoft already controls the industry's most popular and largest video game ecosystems" and that the "proposed acquisition would give Microsoft an unrivaled position in the gaming industry, leaving it with the greatest number of must-have games and iconic franchises".
This suit ultimately proved unsuccessful and was thrown out in March of this year, as the ten gamers were deemed unable to prove that the merger would producee "anticompetitive effects".
It's unclear which way N.A's suit will go, if it will yield any results or end up like the ten gamers, so we'll have to wait and see.