Popular Twitch streamer David "GrandPOOBear" Hunt, who has told Kotaku he earns nearly all his income off streaming Super Mario Maker, made a distressing discovery today when he found out that every single one of his Super Mario Maker levels had been deleted and his profile wiped clean.
Hunt called up Nintendo and recorded his call with a representative in an attempt to figure out why his levels had been removed, a punishment usually reserved for cheaters. The rep was unable to provide a reason for the removal of the levels, telling him that if had been marked as a cheater, she would have seen a note attached to his account. You can watch the whole video here:
[View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbrV66xN0w8:610:343]
Kotaku posted a screenshot of Hunt's now empty profile in its coverage of the incident. Hunt was prepping to participate in a speedrun charity called Californithon when he discovered that his levels had been deleted.
We reached out to Nintendo for comment and were told the issue is being looked into.
[Source: Kotaku]
Our Take
This sort of incident is both sad and fascinating all at once. In the age of digital distribution platforms and game licences, what do users really own? And yes, Super Mario Maker is a Nintendo product that Nintendo is free to exercise full control over but at the same time it's a game that's fueled almost entirely by the creativity and passion of its community. To reward creators for that creativity by deleting their work and not giving them a reason why seems counterintuitive to the spirit and appeal of Super Mario Maker.