Earlier this year we told you that Nintendo had filed copyright claims on several popular YouTube Let’s Play channels. Usually this means the content is taken down, but the style of copyright claim Nintendo filed allowed the content to be kept up, but showing ads that gave Nintendo revenue instead of the individual content creator.
This led to many YouTube personalities to state they didn’t plan on doing let’s plays of Nintendo’s games anymore, since there was no longer a monetary incentive to produce that content. It seems Nintendo now realizes the value of these streams as advertising tools, as some are reporting the return of their revenue stream.
“I saw the revenue return and I had no further claims made on any of my other videos since the news broke, so I took the leap of faith.”
ZackScottGames was the original YouTube personality to bring the whole ordeal of Nintendo filing copyright claims to light, so seeing a reversal on his channel is certainly great. According to Reggie Fils-Aime at E3, the move was done to protect Nintendo’s IP and not against any one YouTube personality.
“The fans need to understand that we see the issue, we understand the issue, but, right now, all we’ve done is take the first step to protect our IP.”
Overall, it looks like this saga might have a happy ending. Nintendo filed claims on YouTube to claim the content as its own in order to hold up to muddy copyright and trademark laws, but it seems to acknowledge that providing let’s players with a financial incentive to continue playing their games and bringing them to the public eye is better than not having those games on YouTube at all.