Nintendo has quietly shut down its anti-piracy site without any official statement or apparent provocation.
Interestingly, as spotted Nintendo fan ‘Akfamilyhome,’ the site seems to have been inactive since February 18th, 2019. However, it’s only starting to be picked up now since Akfamilyhome tweeted about it this week.
Nintendo's anti-piracy site, originally at https://t.co/SlsgUtwZQY, has been shut down and redirects to the main Nintendo site now.
According to the Wayback Machine the last time it was known to be active is February 18, 2019. pic.twitter.com/IJhkkmsg0H— AK (@Akfamilyhome) May 7, 2019
Up until February, Nintendo had a dedicated anti-piracy page at http://ap.nintendo.com, but that link now simply directs users to the main Nintendo website.
While many Nintendo gamers likely didn’t even know of its existence, the anti-piracy page has become infamous its depiction of an uncharacteristically angry Mario. Following the news that the site had been shut down, Twitter users took to honouring the pouty plumber.
He survived 23 years, what a soldier pic.twitter.com/IFS1TH4nOd
— Shane (@FourScore64) May 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/Swissy_CheeseD/status/1125640420288073728
good night, sweet prince… pic.twitter.com/a6249Swad3
— Torchex (@hectoreo64) May 7, 2019
The Japanese gaming giant has a reputation for constantly cracking down on unpermitted use of its intellectual property, which makes this latest move seemingly come out of nowhere. That said, given how dated the previous site was, it’s likely that Nintendo is preparing to launch a more modern anti-piracy portal.
In any case, hopefully Angry Mario can live on in some capacity. Or better yet, maybe it’s time to give another Nintendo icon a chance to let their emotions out. Angry Princess Peach, anyone?
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