Nintendo has released a short statement confirming that its Creators Program will be closed. The Nintendo Creators Program will be officially closed at the end of December 2018. It’s a move that should see creators who cover Nintendo be able to do so with more freedom, though the company has released a new set of guidelines that will act in a similar way; in doing so, content creators will not have to be a member of the Nintendo’s separate collective to share gameplay.
The Nintendo Creators Program was introduced as a way to govern the coverage of its games. And while the closure may seem like one that’ll benefit creators, Nintendo has released a set of guidelines that sound like they’ll do pretty much the same thing. These new guidelines can be found here and while the majority of it is standard, there are one or two points that are worth a raised eyebrow.
Firstly, there’s the issue surrounding gameplay that’s uploaded to YouTube. Nintendo has directed creators that videos which “contain mere copies of Nintendo Game Content without creative input or commentary are not permitted.” This isn’t a major surprise, a lot of publishers ask that gameplay is heavily edited or accompanied by voiceover with footage supplied by them – and there’s certainly no short-supply of opinionated characters on YouTube. Though, the wording suggests that this will extend to all coverage of Nintendo game, both supplied by the company and shared by players after release.
The reaction to the closure has been massively popular. Those included in the Program finally have a bit more freedom with how they go about covering Nintendo games. And while there’s still some uncertainty around aspects of the new guidelines, with one Twitter user bringing up a pertinent question about using Nintendo-licensed music, the new guidelines should see fewer creators being receiving copyright claims.
