Nintendo Cracking Down On TAS Videos because muh copyright

[Soapbar]

So a guy called PangaeaPanga had upwards of 80% of his videos removed and was sent this delightful email by the Nintendo's What Is Fair Use Team:

"We wish to inform you that the videos in question infringe Nintendo's copyrights. As the owner of the copyright in the games: Mario Kart 8, Super Mario World, and Pokémon, Nintendo has the exclusive right to perform the games publicly or to make derivative works based on the games. By making a derivative work using Nintendo's IP, and then displaying Nintendo's IP on your YouTube channel, you have violated Nintendo's exclusive rights.

Nintendo understands that its fans are the reason for its success, and we are always happy to see people share their passion for Nintendo's games. At the same time, Nintendo's intellectual property constitutes its most valuable assets, and the unauthorized use of these assets jeopardizes Nintendo's rights. Because of this, we ask that you please remove the video in question from your channel, and confirm that you will not post any videos using unauthorized software or copies of games, distribute or continue work on the modification, or take any other steps that would infringe

Nintendo's rights.

Nintendo encourages fan engagement on YouTube through the Nintendo Creators Program. Under the program, participants are granted a license to use Nintendo’s characters, games, and other intellectual property, subject to the Code of Conduct included with the agreement. However, please note that this Code of Conduct prohibits you, among other things, from posting any content using unauthorized software or copies of games. This includes videos featuring tool-assisted speedruns, which require making a copy of a game's ROM file, and running the copied ROM through an emulator. If you are interested in learning more about the Nintendo Creators Program, please see: https://r.ncp.nintendo.net/

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Nintendo Anti-Piracy Team"

http://www.destructoid.com/nintendo-s-cracking-down-on-speedrunning-and-rom-hacking-videos-310152.phtml

Nintendo please.

staph.

Please grasp the fucking concept of public relations and free advertisement.

[Ansem]

might have to do with views garnering money. not that i agree with the actions of nintendo because they have enough money, but that could be a probable reason.

[Lantairu]

I noticed a lot of bullshit has been happening ever since Iwata died. Sure, they've done stuff like this before, but not on this level and in conjunction with the Pokemon Company Pax East fiasco and the firing of that one guy.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

The sad thing is that there are a lot of Nintendo boys/girls who will give them a free pass, whereas if this was another company, said Nintendo boys/girls will attack that company for it.

Well there will eventually be 100% less Nintendo gameplay videos on my YouTube channel. Those clowns actually gave me a copyright strike for one of my playthrough videos of Super Metroid Redesign: Axeil Edition. And I had a bunch of copyright claims for several of my Super Metroid-releated videos. I deleted them all though.

Edited September 12, 2015 by BLS

[Soapbar]

might have to do with views garnering money. not that i agree with the actions of nintendo because they have enough money, but that could be a probable reason.

If a youtuber is getting ad revenue, the money isn't coming out of Nintendo's pockets, it's coming out of the Advertiser's pocket (I believe), so it's not like it can hurt them financially. This is basically just saying "Join the Creators Program or die"

[Zera]

Treasure would never do this. I for one highly enjoyed watching the AGDQ speedrun of Super Metroid AFTER I bought and enjoyed the game, but I'm sure that if I saw it beforehand it would have convinced me even more to get the game. Nintendo will likely lose money and customer loyalty over this policy, both of which will harm them. They'll get what's coming to 'em.

[bookofholsety]

If a youtuber is getting ad revenue, the money isn't coming out of Nintendo's pockets, it's coming out of the Advertiser's pocket (I believe), so it's not like it can hurt them financially. This is basically just saying "Join the Creators Program or die"

iirc it's less that it's actively taking money from nintendo (you're right in that it definitely isn't) and more that a profit is being made on nintendo's wares by somebody not named nintendo. not too surprising that nintendo doesn't care for that :P

that said, it's still complete horseshit. nintendo's youtube practices have always been dumb as hell, and this tas development is just plain horrible. imo nintendo's claim of trying to enforce antipiracy by going after tas videos doesn't hold much water either, because if they're really that concerned about videos showing nintendo games in the middle of being emulated, tas videos kind of aren't the best place to start. sure, they normally involve emulation, but let's face it that's decidedly not the point of the tas; when you watch a tas, you're probably thinking "gee that's an impressive show of mastery over the game", not "gee this snes9x program looks like a barrel of fun" :P

in contrast, there's things like dolphin tech demos showing wii games being played in 720p; these are videos that not only demonstrate and actively promote emulation, but demonstrate an emulation that arguably results in a better product than if you played the game legitimately! you'd think nintendo would be all over those if it were really interested in an anti-piracy crackdown

Edited September 12, 2015 by bookofholsety

[Djing]

Nintendo is the last major company that still does this and they stick out like a sore fucking thumb doing this.

[Ercdouken]

Nintendo is seriously out of touch.

[Hyperthrough]

What are you doing, Nintendo? This will not help with the control of pirate copies. This is going to damage the speedrunning community's loyalty on you.

I don't know what is Japan's ethics, but it's not helping or benefiting anyone.

[The DanMan]

in contrast, there's things like dolphin tech demos showing wii games being played in 720p; these are videos that not only demonstrate and actively promote emulation, but demonstrate an emulation that arguably results in a better product than if you played the game legitimately! you'd think nintendo would be all over those if it were really interested in an anti-piracy crackdown

I'm expecting those to come sooner or later; they probably haven't gone after them already because they're not super popular.

Nintendo please.

staph.

Please grasp the fucking concept of public relations and free advertisement.

The thing is, the deleted videos directly showcased romhacks and such, i.e. something that's illegal; tool-assisted speedruns can also fall under that, as it is messing with the game's code using an outside source. So, technically they're in the clear. I personally see this as the least worst thing they've done with Youtube.

Of course, the PR on the other hand... though half of the shitstorm is just people who want to bitch and those who want to sell the news, there's a definite issue. I feel like Nintendo needs to get some new, modern blood in high up. Deleting Let's Plays is the repeated (and main) offender here.

[Augestein]

Eh, well, I guess I'll start taking down all things that are Nintendo. I barely play any of their new games anyways. The 3DS I have like 3 games on it, and I don't own a Wii U and I've been playing other games -- when I actually play games that aren't Nintendo. i guess it won't be so bad to completely sever ties.

[Roflolxp54]

I'm all like why...?

The videos are free advertising and many of the TAS videos are made mainly for entertainment, not for revenue. Also, not everybody has access to the hardware and software for much older games, hence ROM-hacking is a thing, especially as not all fan-favorite or fan-requested games make it into Virtual Console.

Whatever next? Take down any and all fanfiction written using Nintendo IPs? You're playing with fire, Mario -- stop trying to fix things that aren't broken.