Nintendo Creators Program cuts off livestreamers

Nintendo has made a change to its program for content creators that prevents YouTubers from generating revenue from livestreams.

The details were revealed in an email shared around between Nintendo-focused influencers and shared on Twitter by Daan 'NintenDaan' Koopman, who works with several Nintendo-centric sites.

According to the update: "Livestreaming on YouTube falls outside the scope of the Nintendo Creators Program. This means that you cannot broadcast content on YouTube Live from the account you have registered to the Nintendo Creators Program."

The online guide to the program offers more info: "If you plan to broadcast content on YouTube Live, you have a couple of options. First, you can broadcast content on YouTube Live from a channel that is not registered to the Nintendo Creators Program. Or, you can cancel your channel's registration to the Nintendo Creators Program and instead, register your videos containing Nintendo's IP to the program separately. Videos which had previously been registered through your channel would need to be reregistered individually."

The guide adds that revenues generated from YouTube's new Sponsorships scheme and the Super Chat feature are also "outside the sharing/payment scope of the Nintendo Creators Program."

In the email, Nintendo added that "as YouTube continues to evolve" it will strive to provide timely information on such updates, underlining that the Creators Program is open to further changes in future.

It is unclear why Nintendo has made these changes, or whether they they affect other livestreaming sites like Twitch. It's possible this may be some sort of legal requirement to do with how revenue is processed and shared through the program.

GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Nintendo for clarification and comment.

Kotaku notes that the news has not been received well by some members of Nintendo's program, observing that such a restriction won't stop non-members from streaming the platform holder's games.

The Nintendo Creators Program was launched in 2015 as an approved way for influencers to make money through videos featuring Nintendo games on YouTube. It offers channels a 70% share of any advertising revenue around their content, dropping to 60% for individual videos.

The program itself followed Nintendo's crackdown on YouTube revenues in 2013, where it began claiming all money generated from any videos featuring footage of its titles.