Team Jackpot, the group that won the Splatoon 3 World Championship in 2024, is having its winning title formally revoked by Nintendo following allegations of misconduct against several of its team members.
“It has come to our attention that certain members of team Jackpot, the team that recently won the Splatoon 3 World Championship, acted in a manner that is not in line with our Community Guidelines while playing the Splatoon 3 game,” the official Nintendo Versus account said in a statement via X. “As a result, team Jackpot’s win will be considered vacated, and the team will not receive trophies associated with the event.”
The decision comes roughly three months after the team won the World Championship in April. Jackpot’s roster consists of four players: Leafi, .q, Jared, and Madness. Adaptability, another competitive Splatoon player, shared a thread on X in June documenting instances where members of Jackpot used racist language. The screenshots and clips appear to show moments where members of Jackpot used racial slurs in Discord chats and posts on X, as well as clips of team members using racist pejorative terms to talk about other players while streaming.
One member of the team, .q, shared a lengthy statement via Google Docs on June 13. The letter, titled, “Addressing some things,” responded to the allegations and apologized for the conduct of team members.
“I want to formally apologize for not holding my friends accountable. I didn’t know Madness nor talk to Jared at the time of their screenshots, but I’ve spoken to Leafi since hers, and it is entirely my fault for not stepping up to tell her what’s right from wrong. The severity of what has been said by everyone is too much to put into words; it is disgusting, horrid, something I never thought I’d see.”
Polygon has reached out to Leafi and Jared for further comment. The X account for Madness was deactivated at time of publication. Polygon will update the article as we hear back.
It’s not just that the team’s win will be “vacated.” After the win, Nintendo added a custom, in-game cosmetic item to commemorate the winning team. It was a Splashtag banner that depicted the team’s characters at the championships. Nintendo said this item will be adjusted now in an upcoming patch.
“Additionally, the in-game Splashtag banner commemorating their win will be adjusted via an upcoming software update. Nintendo cares deeply about our players and our community, and we take our responsibility to uphold our Community Guidelines seriously.”
Polygon reached out to Nintendo for comment as well and we will update as we hear back.
