Like many MMOs, Destiny 2 thrives on the influence and content of the community. However, numerous well-known YouTubers are now receiving copyright strikes. Even Bungie’s channels are affected. MeinMMO tells you how the developer studio has reacted.
What is it about? Until now, content creators could use Destiny 2 videos without any problems. Videos from known YouTubers like Paul Tassi, My name is Byf, and Aztecross included not just gameplay but also cutscenes and campaign videos. This was always accepted by Bungie. But recently, many content creators are receiving copyright strikes for “Destiny 2” videos.
Bungie reveals in its weekly blog post that the takedowns of the YouTube videos come from accounts posing as Bungie’s “IP protection service.”
CSC, a partner of Bungie, did not initiate the copyright strikes as was speculated on social media. Generally, all actions by CSC are monitored by Bungie, according to the blog.
Google confirmed to the developer studio that the accounts responsible for the fraudulent requests have been banned. Furthermore, those accounts no longer have access to Google products.
Bungie promises that the takedown of the content will be reversed. According to the developer studio, the error lay with Google. In addition to the removal of the strikes, they are working with Google on process improvements to avoid such errors in the future.
After the takedown of the videos sparked a huge discussion on Twitter, Bungie’s community manager @Cozmo already provided the first update via Twitter last Sunday: the developer has scheduled a meeting for today, Monday, to discuss the issue.
Today, an initial statement followed in which Bungie addresses the copyright strikes. According to them, neither Bungie nor its partners are responsible for the takedowns. Additionally, Bungie’s own channels are also affected, which makes it even stranger.
Here you can see Bungie’s official statement regarding the copyright takedowns:
Copyright strike violates Bungie guidelines
Bungie emphasizes in the initial statement that the takedowns were not made at the request of the developer studio. This emphasis has a reason.
On the developer’s website, there is a section that defines the guidelines regarding the use of intellectual property and trademarks.
It not only allows the use of music, assets, and video materials for non-commercial content creation. There is even a special paragraph stating that Bungie does not request the takedown of content. The only exception is content created by the player that is less than twenty percent of the total. For example, official Bungie trailers uploaded to their YouTube channel for commercial purposes fall under removable content.
Below you can read the excerpt from Bungie’s “Intellectual Property and Trademarks” guidelines (as of March 21, 2022, last edited nine months ago)
Players can create videos with Destiny’s gameplay, which can then be uploaded to third-party services like YouTube. If a chosen video-on-demand service allows players to monetize content, we will generally not request takedowns if at least 20% of the video content is created by the player.
Intellectual property & trademarks | Bungie.net
In such videos, original sequences from Bungie are used:
Who is responsible for the takedowns? There are two major aspects that argue against Bungie being involved in the takedown of the content.
- Bungie promised long ago not to let content be deleted
- Bungie itself is also affected by the takedown
But if Bungie is not involved in the takedown of the YouTube content and its partners have also not expressed such a wish, then who was it?
As of Monday, March 21, 2022, there is no further information available on this matter. It is not known who initiated the takedown of the content or why.
It is possible that YouTube took down the content without a takedown request being made. Bungie has announced in the statement that investigations into the incidents will follow, and they want to clarify it as quickly as possible.
The takedown is particularly catastrophic for content creators: A copyright strike or the overall takedown of a video is especially catastrophic for content creators. If YouTube starts taking down content related to video games in the future without developers requesting this, countless people will have to worry about their livelihoods.
(via YouTube)
The situation raises many questions: Why were the contents taken down? Which entity is responsible for the takedown? But also outside the Destiny 2 cosmos, the situation raises questions and concerns. Because if it happens at Bungie, it might soon affect other games and their content creators.
Should I, as a content creator, be afraid of copyright strikes even though the developer studio has approved my content? All of these are examples of questions that may remain for some time after the situation is clarified. Would you as a YouTuber now be concerned about your livelihood?
