Nintendo Puts Some Tough Restrictions on YouTube Livestreams

Many modern gamers broadcast their experiences of games live, and Nintendo has been cracking down [...]

Many modern gamers broadcast their experiences of games live, and Nintendo has been cracking down on how its games are showcased online.

The lengths to which the Big N is willing to go in regards to its intellectual property is reflected in recent changes its made in its 'Nintendo Creators Program.' Since Nintendo was hesitant to join the Let's Play community, it shouldn't be surprising the levels of restrictions it has put in place. But does this hurt the desire to stream Nintendo content?

Nintendo has updated its Q&A portion of the official Nintendo site to clarify its position on YouTube:

"Live streaming on YouTube falls outside the scope of the Nintendo Creators Program. You cannot broadcast content on YouTube Live from the account you have registered to the Nintendo Creators Program. If you plan to broadcast content on YouTube Live, you have a couple of options. 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 and instead, register your videos containing Nintendo's IP to the program separately. Videos which had previously been registered through your channel would need to be reregistered individually."

For those looking to continue streaming to YouTube without being tied to the Nintendo Creators Program, you can register each video with Nintendo on an individual basis. More work, but worth it for anyone not wanting to be affiliated with the program Nintendo has put into place.

This policy does complicate things for streamers as they are faced with a few less than favourable options:

  • Possibly having to set up an all new channel, starting from scratch with followers (with registering the entire channel)
  • Cancel the registration process with the Nintendo Creators Program, and register by video-to-video basis
    • This includes previously released videos of Nintendo content

With the livestreaming community rapidly growing, and with it controversy, it is understandable that Nintendo be overly cautious when it comes to something it wasn't particularly enthused about condoning.

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