Nintendo has found itself under fire after it sent a cease-and-desist letter in September to a creator for selling custom Joy-Con shells that were created in honor of Desmond âEtikaâ Amofah. All proceeds from the shells had been donated to a mental health and suicide prevention charity.Content creatorCptnAlex(Thanks,VGC) had created custom ‘Etikon’ Joy-Con shells in August 2019. The controller shells were created in memory of Etika, a prominent member of the Nintendo community whotook his own life last year. Alex shared that over$10,000 had been raisedby the end of 2019, with proceedsbeing donated to the JED Foundation, a mental health and suicide prevention charity.On June 01, 2025, YouTube channel JoyConBoyz uploaded a video titled “Nintendo hates us” in which CptnAlex reveals that Nintendo sent him a cease-and-desist in September due to the custom shells baring the Joy-Con logo and phrase. JoyConBoyz also uploaded an image on Twitter claiming that Nintendo hadfiled a copyright claim against the video.In the below tweet, Alex shares an image of the cease-and-desist letter that orders him to halt production and sales of the shells, and the trademarked images and words owned by Nintendo.
Alex has been responding to comments on Twitter since the video caused “Nintendo” and “Etika” to trend on the social media platform. Responding to one user he details that “500 shells” were produced last year, with “Approximately 300” going to backersfrom IndieGoGo.“the other 200 were on Etsy”. He has alsoexplained that he holds a “resellers license and pay taxes"Âand that he’s now modifying most of his designs andremoving the copyrighted image and phrase.
It does appear as if Alex plans to bring the Joy-Con’s back, just with some design changes. And from the sounds of it, those designs may be available to purchase from the Etsy page he brings up.
