Now watch Soulja Boy deny Nintendo’s intent to sue, watch him roll
January 16, 2019
Atlanta rapper DeAndre Cortez Way, more popularly known as the mastermind behind the early 2000’s single “Crank That,” Soulja Boy, is back in headlines with threats of a potential lawsuit for copyright infringement for the use of licensed video games by Nintendo for his new video game consoles.
Soulja Boy, an avid video game fan himself, decided to venture into the video game market with the release of SouljaGame Fuze, SouljaGame Handheld and Retro Soulja Boy Mini Handheld. These consoles are capable of running different types of games from the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, GameBoy Advance, NES Classic, SEGA, PC, NeoGeo and PlayStation including anywhere from 800 to 3,000 games preloaded on it.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Soulja emphasizes the legality of the project, claiming that Nintendo had no right to sue him. However, Nintendo’s history of strict copyright and licensing policies have just recently relaxed. Previously, people faced lawsuits each time they streamed or made Youtube videos containing their games.
“Honestly, I feel that everything is 100 percent legit and there will be no reason for any legal ramifications or anything like that… what we’re doing is legit,” Way told Rolling Stone. “It’s been researched. Everything has been basically confirmed that it’s a green light and we’re good.”
However, things quickly backfired as those who purchased the consoles called out the rapper for his attempt to sell a poorly made and over-priced game emulator. The consoles were sold on his e-shop where he also sells a variety of other electronics that are similar to those of Apple products such as SouljaPods ($6.68), SouljaPads (164.64) and SouljaWatches ($11.66). When reports of a potential lawsuit came out, Soulja Boy removed the console from his shop.
Time will tell if Nintendo will go through with this lawsuit as they already sued company LoveRoms last year for $12 million dollars for similar reasons related to that of Soulja Boy.