Nintendo’s going after YouTube videos. Again.

Just when will Nintendo get with the program? Seemingly never, as they’re back and better than ever. 

By using the copyright strike system of YouTube, Nintendo is now going after speedrun and ROMhack videos because they apparently fall under ‘piracy’. 

The speedrunner known as Alex ‘PangaeaPanga’ had tweeted earlier in the month that his YouTube channel was effectively ‘wrecked’ by Nintendo taking down his videos, claiming they still own the rights to them. 

The following email was sent to PangaeaPanga as well:

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, andPokémon, 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

There’s no reason to be beating around the bush; as long as Nintendo does not make a profit from videos on YouTube that use their content, you will never be able to hang on to them.

One thing Nintendo needs to realize is that in the long run, these same videos they keep taking down help them. Speed runners are good at making the games they’re playing look fun. Plus they get millions of viewers from around the world asking ‘what game is this?’ daily. 

It’s essentially free advertisement, but I guess we’re missing some problem that Nintendo sees. 

We can only hope that the day will come when Nintendo embraces YouTube like so many other companies have. Continuing to do what they’re doing is only pushing their fans further and further away.