Nintendo is known to issue takedown notices of YouTube videos that feature its games–it created a Partners Program last year that allows certain users to post videos of its games for a slice of the ad revenue. However, it doesn’t encompass all of Nintendo’s games, and it certainly doesn’t cover other developers’ games. Regardless, that hasn’t stopped the company from issuing copyright claims on Minecraft videos that focus on the free Super Mario Mash-Up Pack (via Ars Technica).
4J Studios, the developer behind the Super Mario crossover, responded on Twitter to the copyright claim reports and have said it’s following up with Nintendo. The developer states that it was “assured this wouldn’t happen.” In an earlier tweet, 4J said that Nintendo was “going to investigate and resolve.”
We’ve reached out to Nintendo about the copyright claims and will update this article as we receive more information.
When a user gets a copyright claim on a video, one of a few things can happen. Sometimes, the user can acknowledge it and let the revenue generated by ads go to the owner of the content used in the video. Other times, the video’s audio can be removed until something is done to fix the issue. However, videos can also be taken down entirely without notice. If the user believes it’s fair use and/or wrongly claimed, they can dispute and have it overturned. YouTube recently detailed changes to the Content ID system in a post on its blog.
Popular YouTuber Pewdiepie has criticized Nintendo’s YouTube ad revenue policy in the past. He said that there would be no YouTubers without developers’ games, but without YouTubers, they’d be missing out on “free exposure and publicity.”
“What better way to sell/market a game, than from watching someone else (that you like) playing it and enjoying themselves?” he asked. ” This is why a tiny one-man indie game like Minecraft could grow into a 2.5 billion dollar deal. That’s 2.5 billion… Made possible, largely because of the exposure it got from YouTube!”
You can read the rest of Pewdiepie’s post here.
Xbox head Phil Spencer commented on Minecraft’s Super Mario Mash-Up, saying “Partnership with Nintendo on this has been great. Nice to see Minecraft doing so well on the Wii U and to get the Mario content.”