So recently in the news, it has come out that Nintendo is going to start taking control all of its products' streams. Now when I say taking control its really not as bad as that, it is more requiring streamers to verify their content with Nintendo and then sharing profits gained from those streams with Nintendo.
This has led to a large uproar from streamers and gamers everywhere. For me, I don't really care. I mean, I make no money from streaming and have not done any Nintendo yet. But this could have huge impacts for streamers that actually have a large viewer base and do stream as their job. And it is not so much the sharing of money in my eyes as the verification process. If they start banning streams for trying out a Nintendo game and not liking it, well that is kind of poor of them, but also seems completely in their rights. However, I cant help but think that going this route will only lock Nintendo out of another great marketing tool.
If think about the future of video games, how do you see any buzz generating around them. Magazines are done, brick and mortar stores are going bankrupt, and reviews on the internet are more and more switching from text to video. Sure this probably will have little affect on their main titles like Mario and Zelda, but if they want a new IP to be accepted and raved about by the community they will not be able to, so will be stuck re-iterating the same games. Now obviously that is probably giving too much credit to the marketing power of the streaming community, but I do think that some dip in sales would be seen if no one is streaming their games just because it is too much of a hassle.
But even so, what is really concerning is the example this might set for other gaming companies. Think about if this was the standard and all streams of games were like streams of movies or tv, where permission must be granted anytime you want to stream anything. That would be awful.
Or would it? Ultimately yes, it would suck, but it would suck just as much for those companies to try and monitor or regulate this. I would think to be able to monitor every stream that plays your content and shut them down or collect revenue from those who do would be a nightmare.
Ultimately, I think developers are aware of this and view the streaming community as free publicity, and so are in favor of it. I mean has anyone been shut down by Nintendo yet? I doubt it, but have no idea.