Nintendo Bars Its YouTube Partners From Monetizing Their Live Streams

Nintendo continues to enforce tight rules related to the use of its intellectual property on video sites like YouTube. The game company has added a note to the Frequently Asked Questions section of its Nintendo Creators Program homepage in which it indicates that the videomakers who join that initiative are now unable to monetize YouTube live streams that feature Nintendo game footage.

Ars Technica, which spotted the change, describes Nintendo’s latest pointer as a “new note” on its Creators Program FAQ page. “Live streaming on YouTube falls outside the scope of the Nintendo Creators Program,” reads the note in question. “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.”

The Creators Program, which Nintendo launched in 2015, served as the company’s olive branch to creators after it previously alienated them by preventing them from monetizing videos the feature its game footage. By the terms of the program, participating creators can split their ad revenue with Nintendo, taking 70% of the earnings to the publisher’s 30%. That deal is still stiffer than the policy most game companies employ. Across YouTube, it is common for video game rights holders to let creators keep all the revenue they earn in exchange for the free promotion those players provide.

By limiting live streams, Nintendo has now restricted another moneymaking avenue for creators. Those gamers are welcome to take their Nintendo game streams to Twitch, but the Kyoto-based company isn’t exactly helpful on that platform, either. To many observers, Nintendo’s digital video policy feels outdated, but if the company believes that this is its best course, it is well within its rights to take the action it has chosen.