RTA in Japan is a charity speedrunning event held in Japan every year that raises money for various different causes across the world. Similar to GDQ, RTA in Japan has competitors run their favorite games while livestreaming their attempts at breaking world records or simply putting up new personal bests. Popular Nintendo games were featured at the event in the past, but 2025 will be different. As the company explains on its website, this year’s event will not showcase any Nintendo games as RTA was told it would need to apply for permission on a per-game basis to feature any titles.
According to RTA, Nintendo contacted the organization on June 13th, 2025, and noted that the usage of Nintendo’s games in the past was unauthorized. For any future events, it would need to acquire prior permission to showcase Nintendo games and this would need to be done on a per-game basis. As such, RTA decided it was better to exclude Nintendo games in 2025 so that it could properly apply for permission for next year’s event.
As Pokémon fan site Bulbagarden notes, this is likely due to the lack of fair-use exceptions in Japan’s copyright code. While most companies are okay with events showcasing their games, Nintendo is decidedly more litigious when it comes to streaming and such. RTA in Japan is registered as a non-profit organization, but that doesn’t seem to matter here. It also brings up questions of whether or not Nintendo will go after GDQ in the future, though American copyright laws do include fair-use exceptions.
More speedrunning
Tears of the Kingdom speedrunner has already beaten the game in 94 minutes
Leave a Comment
Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
