Nintendo has had its share of controversies lately, and their new Creators Program policy is yet another. The new policy, which disallows live streaming has already caused ripples across YouTube, and the internet.
The Policy Changes
What was originally started as a collaboration between YouTube and Nintendo after the demonetization of any Nintendo gameplay videos has turned into an almost complete disaster. The move forced many creators into a revenue-sharing scheme that they don't think is beneficial to themselves, or now after this policy, unable to live stream any Nintendo game.
The policy was recently changed and states:
"Live streaming on YouTube falls outside the scope of the Nintendo Creators Program... First, you can broadcast content on YouTube Live from a channel that is not registered to the Nintendo Creators Program. Or, you can cancel your channel's registration to the Nintendo Creators Program... Videos which had previously been registered through your channel would need to be reregistered individually."
With this change, you would have to either opt out of the program, which like the YouTube Partnership Program that it is associated with, is difficult to get enrolled into, to begin with. Alternatively, the creator can create a new channel to stream on, but they will still remain at risk for Nintendo taking action against them. On top of that, they would have to individually submit all their previous content for approval before being able to monetize it again.
Twitter has already erupted with responses to the changes:
Twitter has already erupted with responses to the changes, like the tweet below:
A friend forwarded this mail he got from the Nintendo Creators Program. So... huh. pic.twitter.com/sDo3srWcHn
— Daan Koopman (@NintenDaan) September 29, 2017
What's the big deal?
The big deal is that many content creators who have already been impacted by YouTube's most recent change regarding advertising Patreon and other side sources of income for channels who are not members of the YouTube Partnership Program are going to be hit by this as well.
Nintendo is a major gaming platform, with competitive games, such as Splatoon and Arms, and by taking away what might be a channel's only source of views, you could be impacting their livelihood by also causing them to lose out on YouTube Partnership as well.
As of this article, there is no official word from Nintendo, nor have they responded to messages regarding the change in policy. However, it does not seem likely that they will move on their current stance against live streaming.
