Multiple Prominent Members Dragged Into Daylight
Nintendo has released a statement on the cascade of sexual assault stories coming out of the Smash Bros Fighting Game Community. Over 50 prominent players have been outed for various sexual crimes, leading to a statement of sweeping condemnation from the Japanese gaming giant.
At Nintendo, we are deeply disturbed by the allegations raised against certain members of the competitive gaming community. They are absolutely impermissible. We want to make it clear that we condemn all acts of violence, harassment, and exploitation against anyone and that we stand with the victims.
These claims have ranged from sexual harassment to grooming and pedophilia. One prominent player, ZeRo, is being accused of raping a 15 year old girl. There are, in fact, a truly disturbing amount of sex crimes involving minors being reported.
Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada and Jason “Anti” Bates have both been dropped by their respective esports teams following serious allegations of abuse. On top of the 50 named players, there have been multiple reports of abuse by unnamed parties. It’s unclear exactly how widespread this problem is, but 50 players is already a massive percentage of the community. Between this and the EVO scandal, the entire fighting game community is set to change forever.