Nintendo Suspended Gamer for Customizing Stage With Trans Flag

When Nintendo opted to release Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with the ability for users to create their own custom stages to fight on, it was inevitable that there would have to be some moderation.

But apparently that moderation includes deleting a stage displaying a trans flag.

Twitter user WarmSafflina posted on Friday that Nintendo took down the stage, called “Trans Rights Now” because they considered it a “political statement.” She said the company also suspended her account for nine hours.

So @Nintendo has, in their infinite wisdom, decided that this stage featuring the trans flag violates their TOS. #SmashBros #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/9FWgQpcCDG — Warm Safflina (@WarmSafflina) April 19, 2019

Update: I have reached out to customer support. The exact reason it was taken down was because it is considered a "political statement". According to their records, my account was also suspended for 9 hours. — Warm Safflina (@WarmSafflina) April 19, 2019

WarmSafflina also included a copy of the original email notifying her that her stage was removed, which cited “inappropriate and/or harmful content” as the reason.

Here is a screenshot of the email I was initially sent. pic.twitter.com/3ysSWpn5V0 — Warm Safflina (@WarmSafflina) April 19, 2019

She said that one Nintendo supervisor suggested she leave messages on the Smash support forum letting people know what happened, and letting Nintendo know that a trans flag isn’t something that should trigger a ban.

Eurogamer reported on Friday that between 70 and 80 stages featuring trans flags remained available in the game, many of which appear to be in protest of the removal of WarmSafflina’s stage.