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'Some' YouTubers approach indie developer asking for sales revenue of his game.
- Thread starter komplanen
- Start date
Aquamarine
Member
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised.
Don't some YouTubers who are as popular as PewDiePie have huge egos?
I remember when Notch said that the Yogscast were claiming "It's because of our videos that Minecraft is successful."
VibratingDonkey
Member
If you want to work out a sponsorship deal, then approach the developer beforehand maybe? Requesting a share of sales revenue after you've published a monetized video of the guy's game makes you a disrespectful, opportunistic, ungrateful, sleazy scumbag.
Being skeptical makes sense, but a story about 'youtubers' asking people for money is too easy to believe.
SquiddyCracker
Banned
I'm expecting it to be phrased like this:
Give us x% of your next game, or we won't do a lets play of it. I managed to bring a total of 70 million views to your last game, it's up to you.
In many cases, the developers wouldn't make nearly as much money without the let's plays, so they might even benefit from such a deal.
Give us x% of your next game, or we won't do a lets play of it. I managed to bring a total of 70 million views to your last game, it's up to you.
In many cases, the developers wouldn't make nearly as much money without the let's plays, so they might even benefit from such a deal.
ComputerMKII
Banned
I see. Well that's kind of a dick move.
CambriaRising
Member
Whhhaaattt? This is some slimy ass presumption on these youtubers part.
PotionBleue
Member
Haha oh wow and just a few months ago the big YouTubers were crying like babies about the Content ID thing… hilarious.
He's not looking to start drama. Just seemed like he wanted to vent a little bit about something he finds ridiculous which happens often on twitter.
And anybody that is just going to label ALL youtubers because of what is most likely a few self-entitled hacks being scummy, then they were probably already doing it anyways.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
No, it's the free market, as you correctly noted.
He has no video of this game.
The only one I see with any amount of large view is TB's.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=maia+game&search_sort=video_view_count
KojiKnight
Member
Oh no doubt it's easy to believe and is likely possible... but we're getting LESS than one side of the story here... we're getting part (the angry part) of one side.
Aquamarine
Member
PewDiePie is rich enough that he should be paying the creators of all the games he puts on YouTube.
There's monetization...and then there is this ridiculousness.
I can confirm ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
Conkerkid11
Member
You couldn't afford to pay him an amount that would make it worth it for him.
I think that's the best course of action here. Fuck em. You try and extort me I'll make sure you don't make any more money off my products existence.
Ok, if he asked them to market it, yes. He didn't ask them to market it. Hell, he didn't even give them permission to use the material from the game to make their video (yes, that is arguable, but I'm pointing out one could very well think they should feel lucky he's not asking *them* for money or telling them to take the video off in the first place).
No, it's not reasonable. If they wanted money to market his video, they should have asked first and if he said no, well, then don't play it (if they really think that's a marketable advertising).
What they did, even if you don't want to bring in the fact that some people feel they stole his property by using the material without his permission, is akin to some one washing your car without you asking them to or even giving permission to, and then telling you that you owe them money. You never came to an agreement to do that, you didn't even ask them to do that (and some people would be pissed they even did that as they could very well damage the paint if they do a bad job), so why do you owe them money?
They have absolutely no legal standing whatsoever (and even as not a lawyer I feel comfortable saying that) and ethically they really don't have a standing either.
Did a search on Youtube of "Maia game", filtered the results by views, and the video with the highest viewcount is at 161,000 views. Requesting anything is already scummy and shitty, but if that's the highest viewed video on the scale, that makes requests even more ridiculous.
Don't want to make this a witchhunt either, but that 161,000 views video is pimping the game out really hard.
Don't want to make this a witchhunt either, but that 161,000 views video is pimping the game out really hard.
He's not responsible for the narrative that others decide to create. I'm sure he doesn't want to send the Internet Lynch Mob to some dude just cause he was being stupid.
CassidyIzABeast
Member
He must be enjoying that advertising if he's not naming names.
They get views and ad money based on the content they build around the developer's work.
Everyone is already winning.
Pestilence11
Member
Please give shames
.
names.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Or he doesn't want a lynch mob against some random person whose behaviour he objects to but who he doesn't want to be punished in any way?
Yeah, these clowns can ask for whatever they want. I'd welcome their asking just so I could have a good laugh, what a bunch of fucking idiots.
Prophet Steve
Member
Careful, I doubt it would be someone that asks money after they get a popular video. That way you don't have leverage, so it would not make sense. Unless they offer to do more videos in exchange for a share of the revenue.
deltatheta
Member
The thing that bugs me about this is how Youtubers argue that Let's Plays should be allowed despite the fact that they're making money off of other people's copyrighted content because "we're marketing your games for free!"
But then if they turn around and ask for a cut of revenue, that argument evaporates, so why exactly should game publishers allow Let's Plays again?
But then if they turn around and ask for a cut of revenue, that argument evaporates, so why exactly should game publishers allow Let's Plays again?
ComputerMKII
Banned
Thanks for the clarification. I agree that it is aggressive (which I didn't quite notice when first responding to the thread) and the devs should probably tell them to fuck off.
SlasherJPC
Banned
As a fellow youtuber, I don't see how this is right whatsoever. If your big enough to be giving the game any sort of boost in sales itself, your already big enough to make plenty of money just off monetization/branding alone. Not cool man. Not cool.
Few things to consider.
His game was a kickstarter game, it's in early access. Peak is 93 according to the enhanced steam.
Not finding any high viewed videos of his game on Youtube (I mean to the point where you can actually say someone's view of the game = sales).
So I assume this is someone who approached him before making the video.
His game was a kickstarter game, it's in early access. Peak is 93 according to the enhanced steam.
Not finding any high viewed videos of his game on Youtube (I mean to the point where you can actually say someone's view of the game = sales).
So I assume this is someone who approached him before making the video.
The devs never asked youtubers to advertise their game. Sure they could work out a deal but from what I know not a lot do. When someone confronts a dev and demands money upfront, I think that says a lot about them as a person.
I would find it insulting that others are playing my game for the sole purpose of revenue and not entertainment.
I'm calling bullshit if he doesn't name these youtubers in question. Not to mention if true, it's selfish considering other indies may fall prey to the same behavior and tactics. Popular youtubers have A LOT of juice and if one of them tries some extortion that doesn't work, and release a video saying your game eats ass off shit mountain, that can be crippling.
Doesn't matter if you release proof after the fact. Damage is already done, the video exists, and fans wont believe you because it only happened after the video trashing your game became popular.
Doesn't matter if you release proof after the fact. Damage is already done, the video exists, and fans wont believe you because it only happened after the video trashing your game became popular.
If this is the case the only way it's going to stop is if they're named and shamed. So I change my stance of simply claiming copyright on the videos, time to start a shit storm to make people think twice about doing this.
ComputerMKII
Banned
I didn't notice the confrontation part before so I've clarified my opinion a few posts above. I'm sorry.
SwiftDeath
Member
You know the industry is bad when even the youtubers have to look for further revenue streams
That's an awful thing to ask of a indie dev
/s
That's an awful thing to ask of a indie dev
GeekyDad
Member
Absolutely not. Youtubers choose to play a game because it'll generate them revenue via hits. Any developer who thinks they're also entitled to a portion of the revenue of the game itself because they're "marketing" the title are double dipping turds.
Do you think you're entitled to a share of a company's revenue for wearing their logo on your shirt?
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
god, i hope he names names