Nintendo Hijacks Ad Revenue From Fan-Created YouTube Playthroughs 297
mcleland writes "The BBC reports that Nintendo is now using the content ID match feature in YouTube to identify screencap videos of people playing their games. They then take over the advertising that appears with the video, and thus the ad revenue. Nintendo gets it all, and the creators of these videos (which are like extended fan-made commercials for the games) get nothing. Corporate gibberish to justify this: 'In a statement, the firm said the move was part of an "on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media."'"
copyright exempt? (Score:3, Interesting)
Nintendo's Right, but being Jerks about it... (Score:5, Interesting)
I've looked at a couple of those videos, and the amount of content which is copyrightable Nintendo (or whomever the on-screen game author is) is WAAAAAY beyond anything allowable for Fair Use or similar exception.
I'm certainly not in favor of Nintendo or the like suing these folks for copyright infringement. The "unique performance" issue is certainly one which can be discussed, but I liken this to plays - sure, the individual performance of a play is unique, but since you didn't write the script, you can't expect to be profiting from the performance without the author's permission.
Thus, I can't see why the authors of these videos are complaining that Nintendo gets the ad revenue. I think that's an entirely reasonable compromise - Nintendo essentially implicitly licenses the video authors to show those derivative-work videos, in return for the publicity and the ad revenue.
Nintendo, of course, could be much less tone-deaf about saying the preceding, of course.
But, in the end, those videos are derivative-works under copyright law, and they can't be shown without some sort of license.
Let them choose to go commercial free (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't mind if people post videos of a game that I've worked on for free. But if they are putting intrusive advertisements over my content then I want those videos taken down or the commercials removed. It's not the game play videos that are a problem. I play lots of games, I love using player videos for tutorials, in fact lots of games have a replay function directly built into them to help users share gameplay content and experiences.
But I don't think that too many artists want their work having fast food commercials and 'seen on tv' products plastered over their hard work. I don't see why 'fans' should be allowed to plaster commercials over your work. I don't see why YouTube should be allowed to plaster commercials over my work either. Go commercial free and you can do whatever you want. Tutorials, reviews, analysis, story summaries, detailed walkthroughs, tool assisted speedruns, and so on.
If the true fans want to play games and share their experiences with others then let them. That's great. No one should object to those videos. But when fans are plastering commercials over a video game it is not acceptable use in my opinion. I don't want anything I've done associated with some namebrand product. I don't want fans of mine watching someone play a game I worked on only to have some product pop up in the middle of my artwork. Remove the ads.
If you want to make a video of yourself playing a game for the social experience, for an education tutorial, or for a review, then go ahead. As long as you don't put commercials next to it. Want to put commercials next to it? Then contact the original artists and company and try to work out a deal. If they say no then respect their wishes.
Re:Reminder, all ads are evil (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not going to help them (Score:5, Interesting)
While I'm sure that people liked the ad revenue that they got from their video being viewed (anyone have any idea how much they get?), my understanding of LPs is that they are almost always a labor of love, not of cash. So Nintendo taking away the ad revenue might discourage some that were using it as a business (though if your business relied entirely on one company's completed product, protected under copyright, you need to rethink your business plan), but the majority will probably continue doing what they do.
In fact, this might even increase LPs: while I don't imagine it was a huge group, there might be some worried about a lawsuit for using Nintendo's IPs. By Nintendo taking the ad revenue, this is explicit permission to use video of their properties, which may bring more people to the table who just wanted to share but were concerned over copyright.
On the face of this, I'm of two minds: on the one hand, the videos don't exist without the users who spent their time to edit and upload them, and they do act as free advertising (or the opposite, if the game turns out to be bad and the videos show that off). On the other, the user would have nothing to upload if not for Nintendo's product, and they do properly own the copyright on those games. Personally, I think it should be split (50/50 sounds good, though I'm sure both sides would prefer a larger slice,) but the power is all with Nintendo here (the big company, the copyright holder, etc.), so that's not going to happen.
Full disclosure: I've done one basic LP (Bioshock Infinite), posted to Livestream, got no ad revenue. (And it doesn't exist anymore since I had a free account.)
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Just because they made money on your video (Score:1, Interesting)
Just because they made money on your video doesn't mean that Nintendo are safe stealing the copyrights of the players of their games.
Nintendo can demand the videos are taken down.
THAT IS ALL.
Nintendo are not safe from a lawsuit for theft of copyright (in the most genuine and accurate sense) just because they wrote the game that is being played.