Back To Normal: Nintendo's YouTube Plan Sounds Like A Big Bucket Of Terrible
from the bzzzzt-wrong-again dept
A couple of weeks back, I brought you news that Nintendo had announced they were creating an affiliate program for YouTubers who wanted to use its content. This seemed like it might just be good news, coming on the heels of the gaming company putting the whack on tons of "let's play" videos that covered Nintendo games, because free promotion is something to be squandered, apparently. In that post, however, I noted that there were some serious concerns about how Nintendo would approach this and whether it would attempt to exert some kind of control over video content. It turns out I massively underestimated how badly Nintendo would screw this up. The first quote in the Kotaku post contains only a hint of the problem:
"Think of it as an affiliate program where we will be providing access to executives, information, etcetera, encouraging that group of affiliates to create content on our behalf," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told me when I asked him for details at E3.Did you spot the problem? You did, didn't you? Creating an affiliate program that generates extra access to Nintendo executives and all that isn't a bad idea, but focusing on using that access specifically to get "affiliates to create content on our behalf" sounds exactly like the reputation-murdering I had worried about when it comes to the trusted YouTuber names. If you're trading access to become a Nintendo sock-puppet, best of luck keeping your fan base. But it's when the interviewer specifically asked about "let's play" videos that Nintendo showed its true colors.
"When we unveil our affiliate program it'll be clear how different entities can play," Fils-Aime said. "And likely there will be a place for the kinds of examples where you reference, like, look, 'All I want to do is capture some of the content and put it out there,' not add a lot of value. There'll be a role for that. The first thing we needed to do was make sure that the content that's out there was representative of the franchises. These are our lifeblood. These are our children. We needed to make sure that the content there was reflective of what these franchises are. The next step is working with the YouTube community to provide access to information, access to executives, to help them create world-class content, leveraging our franchises."Note that there is no promise to actually free up all that free advertising for Nintendo in the form of "let's play" videos. All there is are a lot of maybes, might-bes, could-bes, and, oh by the way, we don't think those kind of videos actually have a whole lot of value anyway. Add on top of that a good old-fashioned dose of that Nintendo protectionism and we're right back where we started. Nintendo will allow content it likes and take down content it doesn't feel is "representative." For the YouTube personalities that have built up their reputations as game reviewers and let's-play makers, they shouldn't be touching this affiliate program with a ten-foot pole.
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Filed Under: affiliates, fans, let's play, reggie fils-aime, youtube
Companies: nintendo
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Dammit, Reggie
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Yeah, no. I don't see many people going for this. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: I have a list of developers that expressly allow monetization of their games. With so many other games out there that have express written permission and state that they love the value Let's Plays add, why would any but the most fanboy of people sign on?
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The irony is that the LPs Nintendo is concerned about are the ones that are most transformative, and thus the least likely to infringe on any actual copyright held by Nintendo. For instance, there's that reinterpretation of Animal Crossing as the Prisoner, or that creepypasta based on Majora's Mask. These are the content that are "least representative" of their franchises, and the ones they probably hate the most.
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The fact that I don't know about a has-been game console company is funny?
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Show some respect.
Without Nintendo you probably wouldn't have your xbox or PS.
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Any time I can't get an honest evaluation on if a game actually sucks or is worth the money, none of them are worth buying based on any of it. Just like you can't believe the NSA, you can't believe this either.
That lack of trust and creditability craters the whole effort and it's ruined from the start.
I'll stick to computers for gaming. I can modify them, put in addons, do fan mods, change the hardware, and do other things besides just game. It's just not worth the money for a second platform coming in build on the lie of see how good it is when everything is controlled to prevent you from getting the real low down.
Thank you but no thanks. I'll not be a customer now nor in the future.
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Bye Bye Nintendo
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I'm not doing ANY Nintendo titles on my channel until and unless they do.
Same goes for any other company.
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You missed pointing out the worst part...
The reason they feel like they can take down content that they don't like and keep the content they do is that they feel as if THEY own it not the user who creates it. If they we're paying employees to make this content, then they would own it. But they aren't even hiring people, they are just trying to take the content people make for free.
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Blame Google
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Re: Blame Google
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Yes, but...
I think you're also underestimating the stupidity of gamers, which is massive.
Supporting exhibit A: EA is still in business.
To be sure, some gamers will be put off by this -- at least for a while. But the rest will ignore it or forget about it, stop caring or never care, and Nintendo will go right on making money off all of them. I'm sure they've calculated this move and that they believe that what they'll gain by it outweighs what they'll lose. They're probably right.
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Are there gamers that will buy any new game, as long as it's got something 'new' and 'shiny' in it, no matter how horrible the company putting it out treats their customers? Absolutely.
However, the same thing goes for music, film, computers... pretty much every industry out there is filled with idiots who don't care how the company they're buying from treats them, as long as they can have the newest piece of crap.
You can point out to them just how much utter contempt the company they're giving money to holds them in, and it might work for a while... right up until the next shiny turd is dangled in front of their face and they absolutely have to get it.
Again, it's not a gamer problem, it's a brainless walking wallet problem, so to focus on gamers is missing the forest for the trees.
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NSFW-Language
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sad sad Nintendo
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Did he just ....
What the actual fuck Nintendo.
Trying to be different is nice and all, except when you are the only one that's being a complete goddamn asshole about everything.
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