Nintendo is known for being quite aggressive in handling copyright infringements. Since the major leak of the new The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, they seem particularly sensitive and have even banned an innocent Twitch streamer.
Who got hit? Alanah Pearce is an Australian video game writer and is active as a streamer and YouTuber. On May 9th, she posted on Twitter that her Twitch channel had been suspended in the middle of a stream.
Apparently, Nintendo imposed a copyright strike against the 28-year-old – she did nothing wrong.
Nintendo imposes hasty copyright strike
How did the ban happen? As Alanah Pearce reported on Twitter, she was reacting to a video from YouTuber SkillUp when the ban hammer struck. The video showed official preview footage and impressions of the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom.
As PC Gamer emphasizes, the footage “was taken during a Nintendo-hosted event that Nintendo organized to promote this game developed by Nintendo.”
In a YouTube video about the situation, Alanah Pearce speculates that the game manufacturer initiated the copyright strike before realizing it was approved material. Additionally, Twitch confirmed to her that the complaint came directly from Nintendo.
She also emphasizes that this should not have happened: After all, it was obviously edited footage, SkillUp had just spoken and she had streamed under “Just Chatting” and not in a gameplay category.
We have embedded the video here:
Leak causes Nintendo to go on high alert
What’s behind this? Nintendo is known to be quite “trigger-happy” regarding copyright infringements even during the best of times. Many have felt the wrath of the Japanese game and console maker:
- YouTuber PointCrow made videos about Zelda: Breath of the Wild for years until he annoyed Nintendo with a multiplayer mod. Since then, he has been “targeted by Nintendo,” he says.
- A GameStop employee lost his job after he tried to please fans with an announcement of the new Zelda Switch.
- Pirates and console hackers have already been sentenced to high fines and even prison sentences.
At the moment, Nintendo seems particularly hostile towards alleged copyright infringements, as the highly anticipated new AAA title The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was completely leaked earlier this month, almost 2 weeks before the planned release on May 12th.
The colleagues from GamePro also reported on the leak. Since then, Nintendo has been trying to put the cat back in the bag somehow and seems to be putting a copyright strike on everything that even remotely looks like leaked gameplay.
In the case of Alanah Pearce, the matter seems to have been clarified, her channel is already back online.
Other companies are also not exactly gentle with leakers. A YouTuber about Magic: The Gathering reported an unpleasant visit after he had shown some still-secret cards. He had legally acquired the cards:
