Nintendo is reportedly ‘double-matching’ employee donations to anti-racism causes

Nintendo is reportedly ‘double-matching’ employee donations to anti-racism causes.

The games industry has shown overwhelming support for the Black Lives Matter movement this week, with many companies pledging to donate large sums to black causes in a mark of support.

Both PlayStation and Microsoft offered strongly-worded support for the anti-racism protests, which have taken place across the world this week following the death of African American George Floyd while in police custody.

UPDATE: Nintendo of America released a statement at 4:30pm BST stating “we stand with the Black community and all those who recognize our shared humanity”:

ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: At the time of publishing, Nintendo was the only of the three major console firms not to publicly back the Black Lives Matter movement (several other Japanese games companies – which typically practice an apolitical stance – have also not mentioned the cause).

However, according to a now-deleted tweet by a Nintendo employee, behind the scenes the organisation has been “double-matching” donations from employees to related causes, which lines up with its corporate policy for charitable donations.

Nintendo also notably did not publish any content on its Western social channels on Tuesday, which aligns with the ‘BlackOutTuesday’ movement adopted by many other companies and content creators.

Several key Nintendo employees, including marketing veteran Bill Trinen, have also publicly shown their support for the US protests.

VGC has contacted Nintendo for comment on this story.

Two further digital game events were delayed in support of the Black Lives Matter protests on Tuesday.

CD Projekt Red confirmed on Tuesday that its Night City Wire stream planned for June 11 will now take place later this month on June 25. In addition, media outlet IGN announced that its Summer of Gaming showcase will now kick off on Monday, June 8.

Earlier this week Sony Interactive Entertainment postponed its PlayStation 5 reveal event planned for Thursday, June 4, stating that it wanted to “stand back and allow more important voices to be heard.”