If ever you wanted proof of the oft-repeated axiom that Nintendo really does not understand the internet, you only had to see how they treated the concept of their games being shared via social media outlets like YouTube and Twitch.
While other companies caught on to the idea that YouTubers and Twitch players playing their games was essentially free advertising that could help boost sales and viral word of mouth for their games years ago, Nintendo decided that these creators were making money off of Nintendo’s intellectual property, and flat out forbade YouTubers from monetizing Nintendo game videos, unless they joined Nintendo’s controversial Nintendo Creators Program.
The Nintendo Creators Program was a program where you signed up with Nintendo, and paid them a share of your revenue, and could also only cover games that were explicitly whitelisted by Nintendo. It was widely reviled, and there was a large part of the YouTube and Twitch community that just stopped covering Nintendo’s games as a result.
Thankfully, Nintendo came to its senses, and announced yesterday that it will be terminating the Creators Program starting December 6–not coincidentally, a day before the launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game that could greatly benefit from YouTube and Twitch. A new set of guidelines for sharing Nintendo game content on these platforms has been posted by Nintendo, which is pretty much common sense, and in line with what every other publisher and developer in the world prescribes.
So, it only took Nintendo ten years or so, but at last, they have capitulated on this front. Good going, Nintendo. Maybe the recent launch of the YouTube app on the Switch was a precursor to this…
