Nintendo will now split Youtube advertising revenue with video makers

Last year Nintendo began filing copyright claims on several Youtube Let’s Play Channels and other videos containing footage of their games. The content wasn’t taken down but instead gave ad revenue to Nintendo rather than the video creator. There were reports later this was repealed but Nintendo and YouTube creators went dark on the issue and the issue was never really solved.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Ok, better Nintendo, but their many steps they have to take before becoming complete!

[iamnsuperman]

This is an odd step sidewards than forwards. Nintendo really needs the support of the youtube content makers. Making it free and reaching out to these people is important.

Treat these people right, they will be more favourable towards your products

[Neonridr]

half is better than nothing I guess. But I agree with you.

[Gazondaily]

Yeah I'd rather be able to keep half than nothing to be honest. 50% of something is a lot more than 100% of nothing.

[AnotherProGamer]

to content creators its still a huge slap in the face, they would rather play a game that would give them 100%

[xX-StolenSoul-Xx]

So they'll take half? I make youtube videos for fun but I'm not going to lie when I say it's good to make a little money from it. Youtube already takes 50% of my Earnings, then Maker Studios takes away 40% of the remaining and I'm already stuck with %60. I would love to do more nintendo content but they're really stuck in the past, this will do more good than harm. THIS could have helped your wii u.

[3-4-5]

Content creators use WHAT CONTENT ?

Who OWNs that Content ?

* Nintendo pays people to create games with their own money, and other people TAKE that footage and use it you make money for themselves.

* Not sure what the big deal is.

Nintendo deserves some kind of cut.

YOUR RELIANT upon THEIR content right ?

Or am I getting this wrong? Did I miss something here?

[Sly-Lupin]

Let's be fair: their are three types of content providers:

1. People who post all of the story cutscenes online--who therefore shouldn't be allowed to earn any profit.

2. Criticism--people who should never, under any circumstances, owe developers or publishers anything.

3. Let's Players--a fairly insipid lot, in my opinion, but they represent the majority that Nintendo is reactingmto. Sharing half of their profits is more than fair.

So, yeah, Nintendo is still failing to properly deal with this ####. They need to learn how to discriminate.

[MasterCornholio]

Makes complete sense what you said.

[majiebeast]

So Nintendo wants a slice of the pie from people that advertise their games for free? Sound more like they want to control the Youtubers if anything.

Sounds like greed to me, unless Nintendo only takes 10-20% but i doubt that very much.

[iamnsuperman]

Well actually making it free means more control for Nintendo than if they start charging/taking revenue money. Charging runs into the issue of youtubers not willing to take part (which is why this is still a huge misstep by Nintendo). It would be different if Nintendo paid the youtubers (that would the the ultimate control)

If Nintendo thought logically about this they would get rid of the fee (free advertising) and then reach out to those who are more positive and give them more exclusive content (first looks....). It isn't ethical but nor is the media in general.

[Baccra17]

No you're right, it's greed. Greed mixed with desperation and a dash of clueless.

[randomass171]

Doesn't that go both ways? I mean we're talking about people basically making money off of content they didn't create. Unless you only count their voice in the video. Taking a portion of revenue as oppose to all of it or just removing the video seems pretty fair to me.

[Dubaman]

"So Nintendo wants a slice of the pie from people that advertise their games for free? Sound more like they want to control the Youtubers if anything."

Any youtuber that make videos about video games has to buy a license from the content creator, in this case Nintendo, to be able to display it on a public platform and profit from it. Which is why channels made up of multiple Youtubers exist, i.e. Machinima, to cut down on licensing costs.
In the case of Nintendo though i don't know if that licensing fee has been waived in favour of just splitting the profits. The better the video is the more views it gets, the money it earns, the more profit it makes. Using that system could mean Nintendo want youtubers to make better videos and push their products. They had MEGA64 announce their E3 plans and Achievement Hunter have restarted their Nintendo videos with MK8.
No one has any idea whats going on really except those Youtubers involved with Nintendo. Wait and see. Also, if you think this is greed then you need understand this is a business and everyone is trying to make money here.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I'd say splitting the take is actually quite a big step forward, considering, by law, they don't have to split a single bill if they decide not to, and could just do the advertisements themselves if that made the let's players ignore them.(but let's be real; there's always going to be at least a few channels that would do let's plays of their games regardless of monetization. Not everyone cares more about money than about the joy of sharing the games they love.)

All things considered, this is generous of them.

Also , a point that must be made; Nintendo stopped making content claims against let's players quite a few months ago.
Yet despite this, none of them are helping Nintendo's games get more advertisement, which is proven by the fact that the wii u's sales are still low.

Given this evidence to the contrary of popular opinion, I have to question just how effective/valuable the let's players actually are for Nintendo.

[Baccra17]

Yeah but than Nin would be using common sense, and Nin hates common sense.

[KonsoruMasuta]

You must hate it too.

[ChickeyCantor]

It IS free, they just feel ripped off because the youtuber is making money off of THEIR franchises.

Not that I agree with Nintendo, but it's understandable.

[Godmars290]

More like they're just establishing condition with which they'll pull videos, if they take this outside the purview of let's plays.

I bet that some reviews are going to be claimed under this. That or the affiliate program will try to apply to revenue from non Nintendo videos.

[LightofDarkness]

YouTube content creators will make or break you these days. Nintendo have virtually ZERO representation on YouTube now, and look who's currently floundering badly can can't seem to grasp why? Yeah. Whereas the company that has utterly embraced YouTube content creators is riding higher than ever before currently. There is no disputing the impact that attention from the likes of PewDiePie, Markiplier, TotalBiscuit, Game Grumps etc. can have on your success or failure. Sony realized this early on, while Nintendo ostracised and punished them for giving them what amounts to FREE MARKETING. It's no wonder the Wii U is currently languishing in last place when it has virtually no representation on YouTube.

And honestly, this is not the right step to take. Why would they waste time making content about your games when they can make twice as much making a video about someone else's games? Get your hands out of their pockets, Nintendo.

[randomass171]

The people who generally watch Let's Plays are people who play games a lot and watch Let's Plays on a consistent basis. But Nintendo's audience has been the casual audience which we already established has fallen out of grace with the Wii/Wii U brand. Whether or not Nintendo has their hands in the pockets who basically put their voices over game content or not would never have had a huge impact on the Wii U's sales, which most people agree boils down to terrible marketing and a lack of a real market identity with a consistent stream of interesting game content, particularly in the first year.

Besides, I didn't generally see new Nintendo games being Let's Played even before Nintendo started monetizing (which they don't even really do anymore from what friends have told me). Mostly retro games. Being able to share revenue instead of losing all of it or even losing your videos and account is a much better alternative IMO. And besides, I don't think any revenue loss is going to prevent games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. from being played and recorded by people.

[LightofDarkness]

Actually, they had one direct affect: me. I bought a Wii U after watching a few episodes of Game Grumps where they played Nintendo Land. You are selling Nintendo's core audience incredibly short, they are by and large people who grew up playing Nintendo games, especially now. Casuals were a short-lived blip in the market, not Nintendo's "core" audience. They were only their audience from 2007-2009, which is a very small portion of a 30+ year history in the business.

Videogames are now the #1 topic on Youtube. There are far more people who watch Let's Plays than you'd care to admit. PewDiePie has over 27 million subscribers. They are by and large NOT hardcore gamers, but casual gamers. The amount of exposure he can give to games is huge, and if your assertion that casuals and Nintendo get along so well is true, then ignoring/alienating a free marketing machine like him is beyond foolish. Then there are countless others who trickle down and reach even further audiences.

As you said it "boils down to terrible marketing." This is absolutely a part of that. Having huge numbers of YouTubers informing casuals of what the Wii U is and how much fun is to be had with it would have been essential in preserving some of the post launch momentum, but Nintendo went ahead and told everyone to shut up about the Wii U on YouTube, or else. You can't honestly say that this did nothing to further harm the Wii U's sales.

[thehobbyist]

Nintendo should get their hands out of our pockets? Try Google. You make less than 1/10th of what Google makes off of ad revenue (When you aren't partnered, even then it's still pretty bad). And people are living off of that.
The only thing Nintendo is doing is compensating. Notice that this is being changed the week of Mario Kart 8's release and shortly after Nintendo declares they are making money on hardware sales.
It's a reciprocal relationship. A two-way street. Nintendo's success and profit will give content creators success and profit. It's simple business.

[randomass171]

"but Nintendo went ahead and told everyone to shut up about the Wii U on YouTube, or else. You can't honestly say that this did nothing to further harm the Wii U's sales."

Nintendo didn't tell anyone to shut up. Don't exaggerate. There's a difference between telling someone to shut up and telling someone not to make money off of content that isn't theirs. I know it's not really right, but the law is on Nintendo's side on this one as far as copyrights are concerned. And I didn't say it doesn't have an effect, I'm just saying it's not nearly as large as you make it out to be as the casual audience wouldn't give a care about something like YouTube ad revenue. Matter of fact, I'm convinced that most casual gamers aren't even aware of the situation.

[Eamon]

Nintendo are acting draconian anyway by demanding people who put in the effort of playing, recording, commentary, editing and uploading to give a cut of the ad revenue.

The Let's Play videos already provide a huge amount of advertising for Nintendo's games. Arguably, a good portion of their sales are entirely due to these youtube videos.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

I would believe you, if it weren't for the fact that Nintendo repealed the fee taking thing a while ago.
YouTubers have been able to do let's plays of Nintendo's games for quite a few months now without any claims against them, yet Nintendo's sales are not, and have not been, rising substantially.

[thehobbyist]

Wii U had a big sales boost in April. 80% over last year and this year April had no games. So, you sure it hasn't been rising?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Positive. Latest figures show that the wii u has not yet made a habit of breaking 100k per week.

[LAWSON72]

Well from what I have read on N4G a lot of people watch let's plays so they don't have to buy the game, specifically for story related reasons. So it is not just black and white, where Nintendo are only getting benefits that they just don't want to take advantage of.

[randomass171]

Considering that Nintendo's primary target is families and children, I highly doubt YouTube videos have as nearly a significant impact as you think. Besides, it's not like they are outright removing videos or taking down accounts the way Viacom had a habit of doing.

[Eamon]

The walkthrough/playthrough videos can sometimes get millions of views and a lot of these viewers are people who want to see more than just a 3-minute trailer to decide whether to buy a game or not.

[Dunban67]

Nintendo is being incredibly short sighted - as well as being. "Penny wise and pound foolish"

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

How?
Let's players have been able to do claim free let's plays of Nintendo's games for months now, yet wii u sales aren't rising.
Despite that lack of effectiveness on the part of let's players, they're still going to allow the let's players to make some profit off of Nintendo's games.

So how is that short sighted?

[Dunban67]

Nintendo should be encouraging LP er s not discouraging them - It is among the best, most targeted advertising you can get -

If you want to see an effective and mutually bennificial LP situation on you tube look no farther than Minecraft ( another key game Nintendo should have on the Wii u and or 3DS by now ).

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

That still doesn't disprove my earlier point, though. They aren't doing anything to make it sell better.
Why should Nintendo give away all the profits to lpers when most of them aren't PROVING to have any big effect on wii u sales during most sales reports?
It rarely breaks 100k.

[Dunban67]

Can you PROVE any of the adds Nintendo creates and runs help sell thier products ( or any other company). No but they still spend billions advertising and getting product placement in movies etc-

A company could quantify thier presence on YouTube easier than running an add or paying or billboards because they have a ton of data readily available on you tube including views, subs and active comment sections

Nintendo keeps shooting itself in the foot over some of the simplest no brainer decisions that they keep getting wrong and it is clearly showing in their results

[DualWielding]

another sign that Nintendo is clueless

[randomass171]

I don't get what you mean. First people were angry for taking revenue away. Now they're sharing it and they're still clueless?

[elhebbo16]

Stop what are you doing get back on the Nintendo hating circlejerk! /s

[DualWielding]

clueless because they don't understand that free publicity and good will is worth more than the few bucks they could get from forcing youtubers to share revenue

[Godmars290]

While other companies are just letting let's players be, Nintendo is shaking them down for what is a now a three-way split for loose change. A shakedown that's only going to lead to the exact same result that caused them to back down last time: let's players will not play Nintendo games.

[Benjaminkno]

Losing billions of dollars is clueless

[LOL_WUT]

But, but I thought Nintendo could keep taking losses for many generations? Honestly if they have so much money in the bank why worry about petty stuff like this? ;)

[Benjaminkno]

@LOL_WUT

I was actually referring to Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo's losses are in the hundreds of millions, not billions... with a "B".

[elhebbo16]

Well its better than what they had before I guess.

[RPGrinder]

If a vidoe maker is making money, that is not free advertising. Nintendo deserves a piece of that even if it is not popular.

[ZainreFang]

That means better advertising from here on out. If someone worships PewDiePie and then PewDiePie plays Wii U, says it's great and stuff, you better bet that sales will ensue.

[Chrisgamerguy]

Let's plays shouldn't even be allowed. The more people watching the game on youtube, the less people buying the game. That's why we have had to say goodbye to some great companies like thq and midway

[Emanno]

If Nintendo does split revenues then other gaming companies like Ubisoft & even Sony would do the same thing. It could lead to a mess. The positive side is for video makers that are able to make money out of monetization, but watching a new gamplay footage could get less fans buying. Especially if it has a decent storyline.

[rajman]

I still think the 'Big' Youtubers will avoid covering Nintendo games like a plague.