Nintendo Madness

Hello and welcome to another installment of Eccentric Spheres!

Today we're talking Nintendo. Personally I'm not a Nintendo fan, I haven't even played one of their games since the '90s. Just wanted to make that clear right away. I have no personal stake in this.

I watch a lot of Let's Plays (LP), something regular readers are well aware of. I find them informative and fun, really the best way to figure out if a game is for me or not. And I'm far from alone in this. Youtube is full of great channels featuring gamers that play and critique games. You just need to find a guy or gal that you like and start watching.

Now, all the big AAA studios from EA to Ubisoft, Activision to Sony and so on get their fair share of critique. They are all guilty one way or another of making bad decisions (at least from the point of view of gamers) and generally pissing people off. But they all got one thing right.

Namely that LP's and streams are a great way to advertise.

If a popular Youtuber like the famous PewDiePie likes a game, a lot of people will rush out and buy it for themselves, and everyone is happy. The publishers get more sales, the gamers get a game they know they'll like and the streamer get's paid ad revenue so that they can make a living. So what's the problem? We'll get to that in a bit.

Some publishers encourage streamers and Youtubers so much that they even pay them to play the game and publish the video. This can of course be a bit controversial, but as long as the streamer is upfront about being paid and remains objective, more power to them I say.

Of course, not all streamers accept payment up front for ethical reason, but that's up to each to decide on their own.

The problem comes when the Publisher wants to control the video and it's message. Like with the Shadow of Mordor controversy where reviewers had to sign up for a paid deal and only give out positive critique if they wanted a preview copy. That was the deal. Dirty business indeed. The dumbest part being that SoM apparently is a really good game, and didn't need any of this nonsense.

But what of Nintendo you ask? Well they seem to be the only major game company on Earth who doesn't understand the positive power of Youtube and streaming sites like Twitch.tv.

Instead they recently started what they call the Nintendo Creators Program.

Usually when a Youtuber makes a video, Google takes 40% of the ad revenue and the streamer gets 60%. But if you make a video of Nintendo's games, one of two things will happen. If the game is on their approved games list they take your 60% for themselves. You get nothing at all, and if the game is not on the list, they shut the video down hard. Worst case scenario, this can cripple your channel for weeks.

Instead, they insist that video makers join their creators program. And here come the insanity. If you join, you have to first submit your video to Nintendo for approval. If they don't like it, you can't publish it. If they do like it however, they take a part of your ad money. Google still get's their 40%, but Nintendo takes 18% leaving you with a measly 42%. To be fair these are estimates, since the exact numbers aren't public, but they're close enough. So your choice becomes: Submit to censorship and a heavily reduced paycheck or get shut down. Then to make it even worse, the contract says that Nintendo can change how much you get at will and at any time. Nice...

But hold on, because apparently Nintendo has hired not one but two PR firms to find and recruit Youtubers for them! Instead of letting people make the videos on their own like every other game company out there, they are paying people to find streamers in order to monetize and control their work. It's insane. There are tons of fans who want nothing more than to do just that, if only Nintendo would leave their integrity and income alone.

I'm going to stop ranting now and let you get on with your day. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!