Nintendo is well-known in the YouTube gaming community for ruthlessly taking down videos with copyright strikes, with the company having a no-nonsense approach to administering these take downs even on videos that are covered by the Fair Use act. However, in its effort to prevent people from “stealing” its game footage, the company has aimed its crosshairs on its biggest target yet — itself.
Yesterday Nintendo revealed a major expansion to the bank-busting Pokemon Go, revealing footage of brand new Pokemon such as Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile that will be making their way to the mobile game. However, shortly after the video went live it was blocked by YouTube, as a result of a copyright strike issued by Nintendo.
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Nintendo has received many criticisms from YouTubers over the past few years in regards to its habit of issuing copyright claims, with the company known for pulling down videos even if they feature content covered by the Fair Use act, such as reviews and previews. Such is the strictness of Nintendo’s policies that the company mistakenly blocked its own video, leading to the following message being displayed to those who wanted to view it:
Pokemon Go was developed by Niantic, meaning that the official Pokemon Go YouTube channel doesn’t operate under Nintendo’s domain. With many companies issuing block bots to automatically hand out copyright strikes on videos believed to contain copyrighted material, it’s likely that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company accidentally took down the new trailer as a result of one of these bots doing its job a little too well.
Block bots have become a major issue on YouTube over the years, with creators complaining that the lack of human interaction involved in the copyright process means that they routinely receive copyright strikes for no discernible reason. This means that even if their videos are covered by Fair Use, they will still be demonetized and removed from the site until the issue is resolved, with the company issuing the strikes receiving no punishment for falsely flagging the content.
The Pokemon Go trailer has now made its way back online and is available to view below:
(H/T Reddit / r/PokemonGo)
