CaptainSauce
Super Poster
For anyone who did not know, any video posted to youtube since 2013 that contains Nintendo property has had 100% of revenue claimed by the company. This is why Nintendo content has all but disappeared from popular youtube gaming over the years. Recently, Nintendo has opened a "creator program" where they will split revenue 60/40, or if you're a dedicated Nintendo channel, 70/30.
Some people see this as a step in the right direction and are eager to get on board, but this may end up being one of the worst things to happen to youtube gaming in years, and here's why. For anyone wanting visual representations, boogie2988 made a good video of this yesterday.
The Money Split
1$ earned by google ad revenue is split: 40-45% youtube 55-60% creator, leaving you with 60 cents.
Then you pay nintendo, 24 cents to nintendo, 36 cents to you.
At the end of the day, you are getting about 1/3 of the profit share from your work.
Who this affects
In my mind, there are 3 types of youtube gamers:
Those that don't do it for money, so they would have posted Nintendo based content anyway.
Those that are up and coming that can't afford to give away 40% of their minimum wage income.
And those that are highly popular, who have no reason to give up thousands of dollars in Nintendo taxes when there are so many other games out there.
Popular arguments have come in the form of "Nintendo saved gaming in the 80/90s you should be ashamed" and "they have every right to do this it's their property". While Nintendo did do a lot for gaming, and they are totally within their right to do this, no one wins from this. Both youtubers and Nintendo suffer.
Youtubers will continue to avoid Nintendo content, and Nintendo will continue to suffer as a company even with the pennies they take from those that do get on board.
The real danger
IF THERE IS ANY PART OF THIS YOU READ, LET IT BE THIS
The real danger in all this is not in Nintendo itself. Youtubers can just avoid using their games for content as usual. No one is mad at nintendo for not letting them use their games, it's a shame since most people would like to, but there is no false sense of entitlement here. There are plenty other games to play. The real danger is the precedent that it sets. If many people get on board with this, if this is a financial success for Nintendo, other gaming companies will follow suit. Youtube gaming content will no longer be viable as a source of income and most creators will close up shop. This is why you should not be a part of this.
The Opinion
If any gaming company needs exposure, it's Nintendo. If you haven't kept up to date on finances of gaming companies, let's just say Nintendo isn't doing well. They will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on commercials and internet ads, but demand money from people who are willing to advertise their games for free. They have been abandoned by many 3rd party developers and have failed to start up new IPs at the same pace as competitors. Nintendo is isolating themselves from the rest of the gaming community and have no interest in anything other than selling you a game for 60$ and making sure all you do is play it their way.
The reason companies like valve have skyrocketed is community. User generated content sold in games, being a part of games and showing them off on youtube. It's how minecraft went from a poor lego simulator to a 2.5 billion dollar microsoft purchase. Yet Nintendo wants to do the exact opposite and shun community. In fact the most popular series they've made over the past decade, Super Smash Bros, is competitive not by their design, but by a dedicated community striving to make this game taken seriously.
I leave you with this:
Without going into great detail about CPM, paid vs. unpaid views etc. this is a very generous estimation IMO.
If a youtuber makes 1$ for 2000 views on a video, it would take Nintendo 120 000 views under their old and 300 000 views under their new program to make up the value of 1 game. Does anyone really think that of 300 000 people watching this game, not 1 of them will go buy it? Does anyone win from this new creator program?
Some people see this as a step in the right direction and are eager to get on board, but this may end up being one of the worst things to happen to youtube gaming in years, and here's why. For anyone wanting visual representations, boogie2988 made a good video of this yesterday.
The Money Split
1$ earned by google ad revenue is split: 40-45% youtube 55-60% creator, leaving you with 60 cents.
Then you pay nintendo, 24 cents to nintendo, 36 cents to you.
At the end of the day, you are getting about 1/3 of the profit share from your work.
Who this affects
In my mind, there are 3 types of youtube gamers:
Those that don't do it for money, so they would have posted Nintendo based content anyway.
Those that are up and coming that can't afford to give away 40% of their minimum wage income.
And those that are highly popular, who have no reason to give up thousands of dollars in Nintendo taxes when there are so many other games out there.
Popular arguments have come in the form of "Nintendo saved gaming in the 80/90s you should be ashamed" and "they have every right to do this it's their property". While Nintendo did do a lot for gaming, and they are totally within their right to do this, no one wins from this. Both youtubers and Nintendo suffer.
Youtubers will continue to avoid Nintendo content, and Nintendo will continue to suffer as a company even with the pennies they take from those that do get on board.
The real danger
IF THERE IS ANY PART OF THIS YOU READ, LET IT BE THIS
The real danger in all this is not in Nintendo itself. Youtubers can just avoid using their games for content as usual. No one is mad at nintendo for not letting them use their games, it's a shame since most people would like to, but there is no false sense of entitlement here. There are plenty other games to play. The real danger is the precedent that it sets. If many people get on board with this, if this is a financial success for Nintendo, other gaming companies will follow suit. Youtube gaming content will no longer be viable as a source of income and most creators will close up shop. This is why you should not be a part of this.
The Opinion
If any gaming company needs exposure, it's Nintendo. If you haven't kept up to date on finances of gaming companies, let's just say Nintendo isn't doing well. They will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on commercials and internet ads, but demand money from people who are willing to advertise their games for free. They have been abandoned by many 3rd party developers and have failed to start up new IPs at the same pace as competitors. Nintendo is isolating themselves from the rest of the gaming community and have no interest in anything other than selling you a game for 60$ and making sure all you do is play it their way.
The reason companies like valve have skyrocketed is community. User generated content sold in games, being a part of games and showing them off on youtube. It's how minecraft went from a poor lego simulator to a 2.5 billion dollar microsoft purchase. Yet Nintendo wants to do the exact opposite and shun community. In fact the most popular series they've made over the past decade, Super Smash Bros, is competitive not by their design, but by a dedicated community striving to make this game taken seriously.
I leave you with this:
Without going into great detail about CPM, paid vs. unpaid views etc. this is a very generous estimation IMO.
If a youtuber makes 1$ for 2000 views on a video, it would take Nintendo 120 000 views under their old and 300 000 views under their new program to make up the value of 1 game. Does anyone really think that of 300 000 people watching this game, not 1 of them will go buy it? Does anyone win from this new creator program?
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