Imagine saving up money to buy shares so you can attend a shareholder meeting with the company president and complain about something in a video game. That's exactly what one Splatoon 3 fan has reportedly done. GLHF reports that a Splatoon 3 player saved up enough cash to attend a recent Nintendo shareholder meeting simply to complain about an apparent lack of poses for male inklings and octolings in the ink-based team shooter.
The attendee reportedly held up the meeting for a while with their complaints, stating that Nintendo has "given boys the cold shoulder" (as translated by GLHF's Georgina Young), accusing the Big N of favouring the female characters. They've previously written to Nintendo about their concerns before, but claim to have been ignored as things "didn't seem to improve".
As the letters had seemingly been ignored, the attendee says they purchased a Switch OLED with a credit card, sold it at a loss for cash, and then bought some Nintendo shares in order to qualify to attend the annual shareholder meeting.
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apparently tried to stop the person from talking by stating that their question was too long (OatmealDome, via NStyles), but they persisted with their argument.
The fan said that he was filled with "dread" during the promotional period for Splatoon 3 because all of the trailers always "showed the girl character". Previously, they argue, customisation was more limited for all types of characters, but in Splatoon 3, "there is clear favouritism" towards the girl characters. Furukawa reportedly responded by thanking the fan for playing the game.
It's certainly an unusual way to get your point across, and it has drawn a lot of attention within the Splatoon 3 fandom — particularly in Japan. While some agree that there's an imbalance, many others feel that there are more pressing issues that need addressing in the game. Others feel like a shareholder meeting isn't the place for these kinds of complaints.
It's worth noting that Splatoon 3 doesn't assign genders to your character. Similarly to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon 3 enables you to pick a 'style' of inkling or octoling, and no clothes or hairstyles are locked to either the masculine or feminine-presenting style. Even when many of the NPCs are gendered, it's great that the player has the option to customise their own character how they like.