Microsoft has released new Game Content Usage Rules for games published by Microsoft Studios that prohibit content creators from benefiting from advertisement revenue from their videos.
The new rules state won't stop non-profit content creators from creating videos using footage from various Microsoft games, but it does force the video makers to take some additional steps. Content creators who post their videos on sites that require subscription fees or receive ad revenue will now be out of luck.
The new rule brings to mind "Red vs. Blue," a set of related comic science fiction video series created using video games, must notably Halo: Combat Evolve and its sequels. The series creator Rooster Teeth Productions was commissioned by Microsoft to create "Red vs. Blue" content for the Legendary Edition of Halo 3.
It will be sad to think that another innovative gamer will not be able to do a similar project independently in the future. Read Microsoft's statement below and check out an episode of "Red Vs. Blue" below that.
Here is the official statement about the content usage rules:
"On the condition that you follow the rules below ("Rules"), Microsoft grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use and display Game Content and to create derivative works based upon Game Content, strictly for your noncommercial and personal use. This license is limited by the conditions and restrictions below, so please read them. We can revoke this limited-use license at any time and for any reason without liability to you.
If you share your Items with others, then you must include the following notice about the Game Content. You can put it in a README file, or on the web page from where it's downloaded, or anywhere else that makes sense so long as anyone who sees your Item will easily find this notice.
For videos that try to add to the fiction or canon of the franchise universe, please put it at the beginning of your video for at least five seconds. For all other videos, please put it at the end of your video for at least five seconds. Burying the notice, for example, deep in a web page in small print that is hard to find, does not comply."
Watch "Red Vs. Blue Revelation: Episode 1" below...