In October, the trend “Splatoon AV (adult video)” went viral on Twitter in Japan. All because some live streamer turned the fun-for-all shooting game into a Battle Royale, including NSFW content.
Splatoon 3 is a third-person shooter published by Nintendo. Players will compete in a 4v4 match acting as a cute "Inkling" or "Octoling" with ink-shooting weapons. One key feature of the game is covering the turf with their team’s color and gaining an advantage from it.
The Vtubers in this event made use of this feature. They started a private match and filtered the rival’s ink color into transparent with a feature provided by the livestreaming tool OBS. After that, they played an adult video underneath the game-capture window. In this case, the adult video will be revealed on the part of their screen where their opponents covered the ground with ink. The more ground covered by their opponents’ color, the more parts of the video were revealed, which means the higher risk their livestream would be banned.
A gif with a similar idea but showing an SFW dog video instead
Ikinone Tomeru, one of the competitors and a content creator focused on trolling content, states that the side that got banned from YouTube during the contest would lose on Twitter. Basically, it was a “Squid Game” that would cost their accounts instead of lives. And everyone who participated knew they violated the regulations.
【 企画内容 】
— 木風公子(汚嬢様Vtuber) (@kikaze_kimiko) September 29, 2022
・スプラトゥーン３をプレイしながら、相手陣地の色をクロマキー加工して下に流したAVによって配信BANされないよう戦います。
・プライベートマッチ８人の参加者募集。ルールは一旦ガチエリアを予定（変わる可能性アリ）
・チームは都度ランダムに設定。
Nintendo Japan officially responded to the event on Twitter. They said the behavior was a violation of public order and morals and was a violation of the game’s rules.
公序良俗に反する利用や、故意にゲームのルールを誤解させるような行為、ゲームやキャラクターの価値や世界を著しく損ねる行為、それらを助長・便乗するような行為に対しては、投稿の削除や法的措置を含めた対応を行うことがあります。ご注意ください。[2/2]
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) October 11, 2022
It is hard to say Nintendo has overreacted about this. The game is rated 6+ to 10+ on most rating boards. Besides, Nintendo was holding an official match for kid players called the Start Dash Cup at the same time. Linking a game fit for all ages with porn-related content will have a significant negative impact on its reputation. Furthermore, Nintendo said they might take other measures, hinting they will file a lawsuit if necessary.
The Start Dash Cup Junior is a Splatoon match for Japanese elementary students or younger.
A meme picture shows the law department of Nintendo showing up in a Smash Bro-style.
Neither YouTube nor Nintendo allowed the activity to continue; the involved Vtubers’ YouTube accounts were either banned or deleted soon after the contest. Later on, some of the Vtubers, including Sinsogumi group and Ikinone Tomeru, posted formal apologies for their ill-considered behavior on Twitter. It is still unclear if they will face further punishment.
The idea of using the “revealing ink” to turn a contest into a risky and tense Battle Royale is still being attempted by content creators, and some have executed it in a gentler way. This time hiding a Google map with their own real-life address underneath their game-capture window.
AVスプラの発想はメチャクチャ面白いから、自分一人がリスク負うこの人の配信爆裂に笑った。
— ロク6️⃣【暗黒杯マッチング発表！】 (@6demonaiyo) October 9, 2022
11分ごろのナイス玉見て
塗り負けたら住所公開！ガチナワバリバトル！【スプラトゥーン3】 https://t.co/lN58gVbgxO @YouTubeより
Source: Twitter