Why Nintendo Keeps Blocking YouTube Videos

Nintendo just does not like YouTube. Popular YouTuber, Shesez, creator of Boundary Break, has this week complained loudly and publicly about Nintendo's decision to use the Content ID system to claim the copyright for one of his videos about Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Rather than claiming the ad revenue for this video, Nintendo has simply blocked it so that it can't be watched anywhere in the world.

Like it or not, Nintendo is completely within their rights to act this way. It's a sad fact that a lot of the content on YouTube is legally grey when it comes to copyright, and Nintendo is legally entitled to take down any video featuring their copyrighted material if they so choose.

But why have they chosen this action? What does Nintendo have to gain from taking down a YouTube video which shows a literal behind-the-scenes footage from Animal Crossing?

Well, in all honesty, Nintendo's long and messy history with YouTube has never been about the ad revenue. Nintendo is paranoid that videos of people playing games in any way other than the way they're meant to be played will have negative effects for the company as a whole.

If one person is boundary breaking, what's to stop others from doing the same? Right from the birth of YouTube's Let's Play community, Nintendo has been wholly opposed to people playing their games on camera in case, heaven forbid, someone might see something that causes them to avoid buying a game.

Which is, of course, preposterous. We've all bought games in the past solely because we watched a Let's Play and wanted to try the game for ourselves. But, Nintendo gotta Nintend.

Anyway, here's hoping you're staying safe.

Lots of love,

Sources:

[allooutrick]

The wild thing is that he has been showcasing the behind the scenes of Nintendo games for years, even other Animal Crossing titles. This is the first time they struck him, to my knowledge.

[MisteRRYouTuby]

The moral of the story: Nintendo isn't always good but isn't always bad. They ARE old though...

[ProfDragonite]

Clearly, Nintendo doesn't believe in the concept of "free advertising".

[theredguardowen]

The way Mario was drawn here with the big mustaches did suit reminds me of Pres Haltmann, which is quite fitting.

[ElectroBlastLuigi]

Nintendo is very insecure, that's all I can say no matter how much I love Nintendo.

[armchairrocketscientist]

I really think copyright law needs to be changed. There needs to be an easier way to settle copyright claims, especially since it is no longer companies battling, but more and more often, companies battling poor individuals who do not have legal knowledge.

Copyright law also just needs to update its treatment of the digital world in general.

[kinefish]

You tubers: oh wow I sure love this Nintendo game
Nintendo: that’s it I’m gettin me mallet

[SiberianScytheYT]

Nintendo should stop with their corporate way of treating e v e r y b o d y.

[Jacob]

And this is why LP for Nintendo cannot thrive. Because the fear money being taken form them after then Princess Peach's Kidnapped record.

[normal]

Nintendo literally has a YouTube channel, *let that sink in.*

[PercyandSailorMoonfan]

YouTuber: *makes a video playing a Mario game*

Nintendo: *Wait, that's illegal!*

[moiseslozano]

Nintendo sounds like a vain kid that shares his toys but immediately takes them away with one single mud stain.

[metashade]

Honestly I'm just glad people get to upload let's plays & walkthroughs of Nintendo games again & not have to worry about Nintendo's god awful creator's program. Hopefully they don't ever bring *that* back.

[muhammadsoleh]

Nintendo: don't make videos about our games

Failboat: *turns into purple Shep*

[boxhead]

I think its a bit deeper, Japanese business culture doesn't understand youtube and social media business opportunities... its not part of the Japanese business lexicon.
Its a really complex and compounded one. Business traditional structure restricts innovation and promotion, the level of bureaucracy in corporate management where ever person needs to talk to their supervisor takes weeks, that risk aversion in decision making and publicity means they will shut down anything that even feels abnormal to them... and youtube and streamers are still abnormal to them. They don't think being a youtuber is even a career. They think its a hobby, hes only playing and talking about games, so they don't even see copyright striking a youtuber as being hurtful to Shesez business.

How one part of their culture embraces technological convenience in the home and lifestyle... is a paradox to business technology. They still use fax machines, formally write emails, never send pdfs, and insist all business decisions are made face to face. Even websites for most of their business still look they stuck in the early 2000s.

Nintendo Japan had a hard time understanding MMOs for a long time cause they didn't think people wanted to play with strangers, the idea of "parallel play" in japan is you don't play video games in an arcade with people... you play them next to people and don't talk to or share the experience, so the idea of a single person having 100k to millions of people watching them play a game is beyond their reality. Nintendo of America was the one that got them to relax their stance, and even then that still resulted in weird things like the Nintendo Partners program, or the time they invited Youtubers to E3 for the Switches release and the youtubers were really awkward off-screen checking for permission to film and post videos cause they expected to by copyrighted the second they uploaded anything.

[zenronez]

How Sonic got in Lego Dimensions
I need to Know The Truth

[Moltar_Railfan]

Nintendo: *Copyright claims countless videos protected by fair use*

Viacom: “First time?”

[Bob-pzid]

Nintendo is like those angry boomers who always say: "Get out of my lawn you darn children!"

[WarmLillie]

Nintendo can let things things slide while block other things.

[javierquevedod.]

_Does that mean that Nintendo can get a copyright infringement of themselves as they have Youtube accounts?_