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Rumor: Youtube Getting tough on video game monetization in 2014

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
"Hello, I have 1 zillion YouTube subscribers to my gaming channel. I see you do not want me to make videos which help sell your game to millions if I monetize it. I'm totally cool with that. If you want me to keep making videos to help you, you can pay me X dollars for every 5 minutes of gameplay footage." -should be what every YouTube gamer says.

You realize how much that hurts Youtubers more than publishers? Youtube could be wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow, and pubs will mearly scale back projections, and continue business as usual. Don't fool yourself into thinking these Youtubers have any pull over these companies.
 

Tybolt

Banned
"Hello, I have 1 zillion YouTube subscribers to my gaming channel. I see you do not want me to make videos which help sell your game to millions if I monetize it. I'm totally cool with that. If you want me to keep making videos to help you, you can pay me X dollars for every 5 minutes of gameplay footage." -should be what every YouTube gamer says.

I don't think YouTube and the countless hordes of streamers multiplying daily have done anything to boost game sales for anyone, besides people buying games specifically to stream with dreams of internet stardom and not having to work a real job.
 

James93

Member
Which studies show that video walkthroughs of Beyond on youtube, bumped the sales of said game? Combined there must be about 10 million views of Beyond's part 1 walkthroughs. I wonder how much the game sold.

For good games not focused on story, and good multiplayer games? Sure.

Did you not read the OP? This concerns affiliates of Machinima just as much now. The system used to allow partners covered under big networks like Machinima to stay safe. The update is that this is no longer the case. Lots of people and networks like Machinima are fucked by this new policy. They need to reach some sort of royalty deal, or else the whole Youtube Let's Play industry is no longer stable/sustainable.

Machinima is one of the least fucked networks. Google invested a bunch of cash into, so they will not let them fail. Plus they do more than just gaming videos now.
 
I'm on the side of the publishers/developers on this one. If they actually ask that people do not monetyise their videos then people should accept that and move on.
 

Nothavingit

Neo Member
sucks for people with yt channels like myself, but for me its about being able to talk shit about whatever in my videos NOT about getting paid. I dont even make that much anyways :(
 

HariKari

Member
You realize how much that hurts Youtubers more than publishers? Youtube could be wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow, and pubs will mearly scale back projections, and continue business as usual. Don't fool yourself into thinking these Youtubers have any pull over these companies.

You'd be surprised at the amount of money publishers throw at various advertising venues for a viewership that is a fraction of what some youtubers have. This is just a dumb, shortsighted move all around.
 

Fret

Member
I'm with Machinima and I haven't received any emails about it... yet.
I don't know what they're gonna do about saying to its thousands of partners "Have fun trying to monetizing your content"
 

Rubius

Member
So let's play stuff will only be done on Indie stuff instead of AAA stuff. I'm okay with that. The deal was way too sweet for some users. DSP will probably die of a heart attack now.

Twitch will be the only source of revenue now for video game footage. I wonder how it will work with companies.

The party had to end at some point and people have been making money and hopefully saving money for that. I wonder what the restriction will be like. Will the Game Grumps making money for example? Is there a year restrict or is it company wide which would mean that all Nintendo stuff, from the NES to the Wii U are touched? What about reviews and shows like the Completionist who use footage for review purposes? They will be allowed for sake of reviewing I hope.
 
You know, after the past 10 "sky is falling" scares, I'm rather skeptical that very much will change.

And really, if you are monetizing without permission, you had to have known that something like this, if it really is a game changer, would happen eventually.
 

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
You'd be surprised at the amount of money publishers throw at various advertising venues for a viewership that is a fraction of what some youtubers have. This is just a dumb, shortsighted move all around.

Oh yes, I already said this hurts their marketing for sure, but I hope people are not deluded to think that Youtubers could actually threaten publishers. That's a fantasy. Pubs pay some big named LPs to feature their work, because it's convenient, but if that were not an option, they'd use their marketing budget elsewhere.
 
What this kills stone dead:

1) Empty VG footage channels - direct cutscene rips, ending videos - which use a quick turnaround of channels to get hits (AKA ad views) before getting banned.
2) Quick-turn-around video game LPers of new titles. DSP is a good example. These guys will get screwed over as they can no longer get videos up and monetized on the day they're recorded - they either have to queue their videos up for a while whilst YT checks them, meaning the footage is less fresh, or release the videos immediately and wait on monetization rights, meaning the video will make far less money.
3) The little guy who wants to use more popular games to draw attention to their channel, or the larger guy who is affiliated with a game that does not have an open monetization policy (e.g. pro Street Fighter IV players)

Nobody wins under this situation. This is YT's legal department screwing over YT and its users.
 

Fret

Member
So let's play stuff will only be done on Indie stuff instead of AAA stuff. I'm okay with that. The deal was way too sweet for some users. DSP will probably die of a heart attack now.

Twitch will be the only source of revenue now for video game footage. I wonder how it will work with companies.

The party had to end at some point and people have been making money and hopefully saving money for that. I wonder what the restriction will be like. Will the Game Grumps making money for example? Is there a year restrict or is it company wide which would mean that all Nintendo stuff, from the NES to the Wii U are touched? What about reviews and shows like the Completionist who use footage for review purposes? They will be allowed for sake of reviewing I hope.

Reviews would be fine as they are under educational fair use, I would suspect.

You know, after the past 10 "sky is falling" scares, I'm rather skeptical that very much will change.

And really, if you are monetizing without permission, you had to have known that something like this, if it really is a game changer, would happen eventually.

But the problem is people aren't monetizing without permission, they have been told that they can upload anything and monetize it as long as they are under a network.
 
What this kills stone dead:

1) Empty VG footage channels - direct cutscene rips, ending videos - which use a quick turnaround of channels to get hits (AKA ad views) before getting banned.
2) Quick-turn-around video game LPers of new titles. DSP is a good example. These guys will get screwed over as they can no longer get videos up and monetized on the day they're recorded - they either have to queue their videos up for a while whilst YT checks them, meaning the footage is less fresh, or release the videos immediately and wait on monetization rights, meaning the video will make far less money.
3) The little guy who wants to use more popular games to draw attention to their channel.

Nobody wins under this situation. This is YT's legal department screwing over YT and its users.

You have to admit, games like the Last of Us, Final Fantasy in general, Metal Gear Solid in general, a like games have a good claim to be hurt by this practice. Ripping out and putting up 6 to 10 hours of cutscenes is no different from ripping and putting up movies.
 

HariKari

Member
Oh yes, I already said this hurts their marketing for sure, but I hope people are not deluded to think that Youtubers could actually threaten publishers. That's a fantasy. Pubs pay some big named LPs to feature their work, because it's convenient, but if that were not an option, they'd use their marketing budget elsewhere.

The amount of engagement is very, very high on youtube. If you've got a guy with 500k subs who only does Battlefield, spending any amount of money to get more footage/exclusive footage on there is an incredible investment from a marketing perspective. It's a good thing that people are clustered around Youtube as they are currently. If they all scatter to the winds, you lose a valuable advertising platform.

There's really no good reason to shut down monetization other than to control the message around games and to have a tighter grip over what is shown on youtube. What happens when EA forces the takedown of a critical video? It will be too late at that point.
 

JLeack

Banned
You know, after the past 10 "sky is falling" scares, I'm rather skeptical that very much will change.

And really, if you are monetizing without permission, you had to have known that something like this, if it really is a game changer, would happen eventually.

Have you been on YouTube lately? What do you think about the awesome Google Plus policy? Yeah, it pretty much destroyed the internet it was so bad.
 
Have you been on YouTube lately? What do you think about the awesome Google Plus policy? Yeah, it pretty much destroyed the internet it was so bad.

That I have to have a google plus account to comment? Changed next to nothing other than being annoying. Comments sections are still a cesspool (homophobic and racist slurs abound) so their main goal failed.

Don't get me wrong, it's a stupid decision. However, it is well within their right to do so and again, I'm still skeptical that very much will actually change.
 

Rubius

Member
Reviews would be fine as they are under educational fair use, I would suspect.

Yeah, but Nintendo seem to demonetize stuff that use a little of the footage, so I was wondering if they will fix the whole "Scan for footage and demonetize" tactic.

With Pewdiepie making over a million last year I was sure that something would be done, but Pewdiepie seem to focus mainly on indie title anyway, so I wonder if everybody wont simply jump on the indie bandwagon. Could be really good for the indie scene.
 

KoopaTheCasual

Junior Member
The amount of engagement is very, very high on youtube. If you've got a guy with 500k subs who only does Battlefield, spending any amount of money to get more footage/exclusive footage on there is an incredible investment from a marketing perspective. It's a good thing that people are clustered around Youtube as they are currently. If they all scatter to the winds, you lose a valuable advertising platform.

There's really no good reason to shut down monetization other than to control the message around games and to have a tighter grip over what is shown on youtube. What happens when EA forces the takedown of a critical video? It will be too late at that point.

Like I said, this is a stupid decision, but it ultimately hurts LPs, so much more than Youtube. They want to get their free advertising AND control the revenue stream (which will never happen). It's extremely greedy and short-sighted, but you can't say they don't have the right to this decision. Such a clusterfuck of stupid.
 
You have to admit, games like the Last of Us, Final Fantasy in general, Metal Gear Solid in general, a like games have a good claim to be hurt by this practice. Ripping out and putting up 6 to 10 hours of cutscenes is no different from ripping and putting up movies.

This is entirely correct. These channels do not add value to the industry and need to be stopped. And this isn't specifically a video games thing - it's across the whole of Youtube, so it includes film and TV, for example.

However, the best way to stop these channels is to make bans more effective. And probably to scrutinize brand new accounts more.

YouTube has instead decided to chop off its nose to spite its face by putting out a new global policy that affects all partners. Which is idiotic.
 
But the problem is people aren't monetizing without permission, they have been told that they can upload anything and monetize it as long as they are under a network.

And then I'm sure they'll be fine. Google may be inept at implementing new Youtube layouts but they aren't Draino swilling incompetent to not have worked something out with the bigger channels who draw in millions, tens of millions, and hundreds of millions of views a month.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
If I were running a game company...

-Monetization only allowed with videos that use short clips and significant added content. Stuff like video reviews or video podcasts, stuff like that. Essentially what guys like IGN, GameSpot, and the major gaming blogs do.

-Let's Plays would be allowed if not monetized.

-Full cutscenes without voiceover only allowed for games where the story is NOT the primary draw. So something like The Last of Us wouldn't be okay. But Call of Duty would be fine.

-Longplays (ie full game, no voice over) and full speed runs would not be allowed within the first couple of years of the game's release.
 
so what does this mean for fighting game tournament streams/videos?

I assume capcom is going to let that rock since fucking with team spooky + level up would not be in their favor. Considering who they hired recently (haunts + combofiend).
 

Omega

Banned
I guess the publishers hate how people like me use YouTube to decide whether to get games instead of bribed reviews.
 
It's a lot of fear-mongering, I don't see it affecting video game channels much. What that article failed to mention is that it will only check a few videos at random, and it will learn as it goes, checking less and less videos if the channel is good. This isn't about going after video game videos, this is going after those that make junk accounts and upload TV Shows and Movies, making money off of them in the process. Also, the new system is real and I'm told the date to go live is Monday.
 

Lost Fragment

Obsessed with 4chan
so what does this mean for fighting game tournament streams/videos?

I assume capcom is going to let that rock since fucking with team spooky + level up would not be in their favor. Considering who they hired recently (haunts + combofiend).

Well they even let channels like Yogaflame24 monetize so I figure that Spooky, etc will be OK too.

A lot of jealous fucks ITT.

Yeah. Being like "A handful of guys make a lot of money and (supposedly) don't work as hard as I do, so fuck them" or "I hate so-and-so so I want them shut down" is like the dumbest shit.

I'm gonna be a CNA sometime next year. So if I had the same attitude, I'd be telling pretty much everyone on this board who makes > $10 an hour doing almost any other job to eat a dick.
 

darkpower

Banned
If I were running a game company...

-Monetization only allowed with videos that use short clips and significant added content. Stuff like video reviews or video podcasts, stuff like that. Essentially what guys like IGN, GameSpot, and the major gaming blogs do.

-Let's Plays would be allowed if not monetized.

-Full cutscenes without voiceover only allowed for games where the story is NOT the primary draw. So something like The Last of Us wouldn't be okay. But Call of Duty would be fine.

-Longplays (ie full game, no voice over) and full speed runs would not be allowed within the first couple of years of the game's release.

I used 30 seconds of Other M footage in the video I brought up a few times now ( http://bit.ly/1aJYofK for those that wish to see it). The rest of it was various clips of real people, and yet, part 1 of that response - which had much more game clips than the second - was able to be monetized, and the second part wasn't because the clip I showed was a Nintendo clip? Might've also been the CNN clip, but who knows?

More to the point, who's to say that it's just going to be game commentators? What about channels like The Young Turks? What's stopping Fox News from being dicks because people keep exposing them on the net for their usual BS? This could be grounds for a "slow-burn" type of censorship where they can slowly take away the ability to do anything. You're basically waterboarding "offenders" instead of just shooting them in the head, if I'm free to use that analogy. I'm pretty sure TYT has tons of other ways to get revenue, but keep in mind of the smaller people.

Hell, people on GAF seem to like Sarkeesian's videos, what about her? Will SHE be affected, too? I can disagree with the manner of how she forms arguments until the end of the days, but I'll defend her RIGHT to have an opinion. Slow-burn censorship is still censorship.

I'm suspicious about the real reasons behind this because companies have already abused YouTube's copyright system. That's not an opinion, but an absolute, proven, documented fact!
 

Maddocks

Member
every bubble has to burst. I tried to get into it, but I don't have the talent to talk into a mic. Never felt comfortable.

Some shows are good and have good insight. others, need to die.

Does this mean that they can do the show, but not get paid to do it? so now it's just a hobby and not a job?
 

jett

D-Member
Not surprised at all. Movie studios don't like people putting up unauthorized clips of their movies either, they like it even less if those people get paid for it.

Wastes of life like Pewdiepie will find other avenues to scam turds out of their money though.
 
Yeah they exist to make money. Though the question I was answering was about taking down videos already in place. I'm unsure of how it will affect what content creators will do as a result of this and what sort of hoops they'll need to jump through.

I'm sure channels like TB, GG and PDP will be fine. They're huge money makers for their networks, they won't let them just die.

Most of those channels will be "managed" not affiliates. Nothing will change for them.

Kind of late, but thanks for the heads up. Good to know for some of them.
 

Mman235

Member
Banning monetisation of their videos is one thing, but is the OP implying that some are trying to outright ban footage of their games? Anyone who tries that deserves all the backlash they get.
 

Linkified

Member
Honestly this sets a bad precedent not for the games industry but any major product producer, for instance smaller sites that can't afford to host their own videos, such as movie reviews.

Lyric videos, and those kind of things aka linear entertainment I could agree but things like interactive entertainment should be 100% backed by Google and not give in to Publisher wishes.
 

Cipherr

Member
At this point do youtubers need to find another site? Or make one collectively? Cos the amount of shit google has pulled lately with gaming content on youtube has been ridiculous.

I'm expecting a huge backlash from this, if true. No way Google's getting away with that unscathed.

Honestly, if we are lucky there will be huge backlash against Youtube in particular. And if that happens and everyone moves LP videos to a new site, once these same rules get imposed on them there as well, it might finally switch on the lightbulb that the content owners are the roadblock here and not the website.

Maybe once people realize that, the pressure can be applied in a place where it actually matters. Unless we can change content creators minds on this, these policies will follow this type of thing wherever they go. We really need to solve this shit before it fucks around and hits twitch. I would die inside if that happened.
 
Cracking down on videos and thus exposure to the public, pretty much at the exact moment you want to be selling new consoles as much as possible, doesn't seem like a smart move. Publisher suicide levels of stupid. Gonna be interesting.
 

kodecraft

Member
I support this move, uploading constant gameplay footage was easy money for the uploader. On the other hand, there are some really good channels out there with great footage.


I do NOT support however, banning of gameplay footage of games period.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Honestly, if we are lucky there will be huge backlash against Youtube in particular. And if that happens and everyone moves LP videos to a new site, once these same rules get imposed on them there as well, it might finally switch on the lightbulb that the content owners are the roadblock here and not the website.

Maybe once people realize that, the pressure can be applied in a place where it actually matters. Unless we can change content creators minds on this, these policies will follow this type of thing wherever they go. We really need to solve this shit before it fucks around and hits twitch. I would die inside if that happened.

It's the fault of the content producers because they rightfully hold all the rights to the game content and that will never change.

I love how many of these noble LPers/game footage rippers say that they do it for the love of the game but put up a stink when they can no longer make money off of it and immediately move on to someone who hasn't decided to enforce their rights.
 

foamdino

Member
I watch youtube to help make purchasing decisions. I also watch for tips on how to play more complex games (CKII, dwarf fortress, path of exile etc).

It seems that this is another AAA games thing that will push people towards indies. I completely agree that there are some channels that just post unedited gameplay fottage and add no value. I don't watch those (and I'm not sure why anyone would).

Also funny that this is happening when just 5 months ago Google published this
 
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