Usada Pekora, the widely recognized Japanese VTuber, has recently captured the spotlight on social media following a formal warning from gaming titan Nintendo, directed towards her agency, Hololive. This situation began to unfold after a post by Pekora on March 30, 2025, where she announced an upcoming livestream focused on capturing the elusive Shiny Mew in Pokémon Emerald.
In her post, which has been translated from Japanese for wider reach, she expressed:
“After this, from 7pm 🌟🌳 Pokemon Searching for Shiny Mew 🌳 Emerald ‼ is the only Pokemon where you can catch shiny Mew. Peko desperately wants a child just for Pekora ✨✨ Bring it to me!!! ▽ Waiting area ▽ (YouTube livestream link).”
Concerns arose regarding Pekora’s methods, as the special Pokémon she aimed to capture is notoriously rare within the game. Allegations surfaced that she might have utilized a hacked Pokémon cartridge to facilitate her pursuit.
According to Automaton Media, Pekora reportedly acquired multiple used game cartridges from auction platforms, which led to the suspicion that one of these was compromised.
As a consequence, the livestream where she attempted to catch Shiny Mew has been switched to private, rendering it unavailable for public viewing.
Statement from COVER Corp. Regarding Violation of Guidelines
On April 9, 2025, in response to the situation, COVER Corp., Hololive’s parent company, issued a corporate notice addressing “game distribution suspected of violating guidelines.”This announcement confirmed their communication with Nintendo regarding the livestream and outlined the gaming company’s feedback:
“We have consulted with Nintendo Co., Ltd., the distributor of the game software, regarding the content of a recent game stream that we suspect violated the guidelines, and have been discussing how to respond. Nintendo Co., Ltd. has responded as follows – The video will be made private as continuing to publish it may lead to misunderstandings. Avoid future video projects that pose a risk of violating the guidelines. Inform affiliated talents once again of the need to comply with the guidelines.”
COVER Corp. also highlighted their commitment to implement “measures and improvements”to better educate and guide their associated VTubers on compliance with the relevant gaming guidelines.
For further details, readers can access the complete statement from COVER Corp. by clicking here.
It’s worth noting that Usada Pekora is not the only Hololive VTuber making waves in the community; Nanashi Mumei also made headlines on March 28, 2025, due to her graduation announcement.