>>36183028I think it's less about stopping it entirely and more about a show of force. If they shut down an outfit like showdown, they'll send a clear message that they're not fucking around when someone uses their IP without their permission.
On the flip side, they may just say fuck it and let it go because it's A.) Free advertising and B.) Carries a risk of causing an unnecessary PR shit storm like WoW had with the Nostralius debacle. There's no way to know for sure, but I'd wager a good percentage of showdown/smogon types buy and play the physical games too. Why alienate customers over some bullshit? As long as smogon and showdown aren't profiting off of the IP, which I sincerely doubt they are to any notable extent, why bother?
But yeah, the point of my post was just to demonstrate that Nintendo isn't always the most rational company. This is the same organization that kept Earthbound under lock and key for decades before grudgingly releasing it on the VC.
