Nintendo Scraps Creator's Program, Now Just has a FAQ

Nintendo launched the Creator’s Program three years ago in an effort to reign in any YouTuber or Twitch streamer that was looking to show off Nintendo-copywritten content. It was a naked and shameless cash grab, and it did an excellent job at preventing video producers and other community figures from bothering to engage with Nintendo at all. So needless to say, it wasn’t very popular.

The good news is that Nintendo has just announced that they plan to cancel the Creators Program.

The bad news is that they still have guidelines you have to follow if you intend to stream Nintendo content.

None of it is especially surprising: you can only make money through Nintendo-approved monetization schemes (like the YouTube Partner Program or the Twitch Affiliate Program), you can only show off content that’s been officially released (so no leaks), you can’t claim to be affiliated with Nintendo in any way, shape, or form… that kind of stuff. But there’s one specific point that, if not surprising, still raises an eyebrow or two:

“We encourage you to create videos that include your creative input and commentary. Videos and images that contain mere copies of Nintendo Game Content without creative input or commentary are not permitted. You may, however, post gameplay videos and screenshots using Nintendo system features, such as the Capture Button on Nintendo Switch, without additional input or commentary.”

This is great news for game critics and those stupid lore theory videos, but it’s bad news for the less-talkative lets players who fill a vital niche in the content creation world. Sometimes, you just wanna watch someone play a game without their voice contently grating in their ears, and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of muted video game footage in the past, so that’s kind of a loss.

Otherwise, though? I guess this is ultimately a good thing. Or, more specifically, less of a bad thing.

But these days I’ll take it.