In a curious move, Nintendo is claiming copyright on user-generated YouTube videos featuring its games. The move would make sure that the revenue from additional ads from Nintendo that run alongside the content will go to Nintendo instead of the video's creators.
The news has been brought out by prolific YouTuber Zack Scott, who does "Let's Play" videos for YouTube and the complaint has been echoed on Reddit by many other users of the video sharing website.
Scott confirmed that Nintendo is issuing content ID match claims on Let's Play videos that feature its game franchises. The move will result in Nintendo bookending ads on those videos featuring its content, the revenue of which will go to the company and not to the content creators.
As the news began making rounds in the gaming world, Nintendo quickly sent out a statement to GameFront justifying its right to protect and monetize its own IP. "As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database," the company explains.
"For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips. We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property," the statement says.
Meanwhile Zack Scott, who has over 220,000 subscribers on YouTube, expressed his anger on the new Nintendo demands with a long note on his Facebook wall. "Since I started my gaming channel, I've played a lot of games. I love Nintendo, so I've included their games in my line-up. But until their claims are straightened out, I won't be playing their games. I won't because it jeopardizes my channel's copyright standing and the livelihood of all LPers (Let's Play), he writes. "I think filing claims against LPers is backwards. Video games aren't like movies or TV. Each play-through is a unique audiovisual experience. When I see a film that someone else is also watching, I don't need to see it again. When I see a game that someone else is playing, I want to play that game for myself! Sure, there may be some people who watch games rather than play them, but are those people even gamers?," Scott asks.
