Nintendo claims ad revenue on user-captured YouTube videos

While generously not slapping Let's Play creators with takedowns, Nintendo has put in ID claims on clips of its games beyond a certain length - bracketing them with adds and pocketing the revenue.

The news first surfaced via disgruntled Reddit and Facebook posts, but was quickly verified by Nintendo, via a statement to GameFront:

"As part of our on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media channels in an appropriate and safe way, we became a YouTube partner and as such in February 2013 we registered our copyright content in the YouTube database," the platform holder said.

"For most fan videos this will not result in any changes, however, for those videos featuring Nintendo-owned content, such as images or audio of a certain length, adverts will now appear at the beginning, next to or at the end of the clips.

"We continually want our fans to enjoy sharing Nintendo content on YouTube, and that is why, unlike other entertainment companies, we have chosen not to block people using our intellectual property."

YouTube favourites, developers and fans have expressed frustration with the decision. The loss of ad revenue could prove disastrous to Nintendo-focused channels.

Thanks, Destructoid.