Changes to Youtube's video game content monetization

[samysnes]

http://cramgaming.com/youtube-getting-tough-video-game-monetization-12989/

 

Looks to me like gaming networks lost all their appeal:

 

Most savvy gamers will have joined one of the major networks who take a cut from earnings but bypass the random checks which has meant no delays in earning potential as soon as a video is posted. However, that’s all about to change, as from early next year Youtube will  be random checking videos regardless of whether the uploader channel is partnered with a network or not.

 

Let me know what you guys think about this...

[Mooshi]

http://cramgaming.com/youtube-getting-tough-video-game-monetization-12989/

 

Looks to me like gaming networks lost all their appeal:

 

 

Let me know what you guys think about this...

 

 

Good.

 

The whole point of video game type videos on Youtube, at least to me, are supposed to entertain your fans as the number one priority. One doesn't deserve to be paid for playing a video game, no matter how funny their commentary may be. You do that stuff for fun, not for profit. It makes far more sense to me that if a channel is to be getting money from what they do, the content itself has to be original. To profit off someone else's product seems kinda 'eh' in my book.

 

Don't see how this is a big deal honestly. Let's Plays ect are supposed to be for fun, not profit. The very thought of giving money to that seems off. Now, if the uploader has a separate donation pool, I have zero issue with that. Let the fans fund it if they truly care about a channel on video games.

 

I know if I uploaded videos playing Mario games and talking over them, I wouldn't think I deserved to get paid for it. It's a hobby at best.

[cDNA]

I dont understand how developpers dont understand that youtube videos are free advertisment, they dont pay a dime and a lot of people watch their games played.

[needmorewood]

incoming Totalbiscuit 5 day rant with half the words being monetization and stupid.

[upliftsleet1974]

This may be good....The only people posting that kind of videos will be the ones doing it for fun And they tend to make better content

[Mooshi]

I wouldn't say game play videos should be taken down outright, that's lame. As @cDNA said, it's free advertisement. My stance is that I don't believe they deserve to get paid for it, but should continue to upload game play vids for non-profit.

[needmorewood]

I dont understand how developpers dont understand that youtube videos are free advertisment, they dont pay a dime and a lot of people watch their games played.

yea but maybe they are worried about the people like me who just watch the game and dont play it. if its an all story game (more or less) why pay for the game when u can watch it like free tv?

[Lays]

Good.

 

The whole point of video game type videos on Youtube, at least to me, are supposed to entertain your fans as the number one priority. One doesn't deserve to be paid for playing a video game, no matter how funny their commentary may be. You do that stuff for fun, not for profit. It makes far more sense to me that if a channel is to be getting money from what they do, the content itself has to be original. To profit off someone else's product seems kinda 'eh' in my book.

 

Don't see how this is a big deal honestly. Let's Plays ect are supposed to be for fun, not profit. The very thought of giving money to that seems off. Now, if the uploader has a separate donation pool, I have zero issue with that. Let the fans fund it if they truly care about a channel on video games.

 

I know if I uploaded videos playing Mario games and talking over them, I wouldn't think I deserved to get paid for it. It's a hobby at best.

 

 

 

If they're dumping time, money, effort into it, and they make great content, why shouldn't they be compensated? If youtube/ the advertisers are making tons of money off people watching their videos why shouldn't they get paid for it?

 

Not to be a dick but, your attitude really makes it seem like you couldn't make it in the youtube/streaming scene and now you think nobody should be able to do it since you can't.

[samysnes]

What about video game reviews? I think they are essential and some of them are very well done and have a lot of work put into them (AngryJoe, Totalbiscuit, ect). I think this kind of "service" and useful content deserves payment.

[cDNA]

Good.

The whole point of video game type videos on Youtube, at least to me, are supposed to entertain your fans as the number one priority. One doesn't deserve to be paid for playing a video game, no matter how funny their commentary may be. You do that stuff for fun, not for profit. It makes far more sense to me that if a channel is to be getting money from what they do, the content itself has to be original. To profit off someone else's product seems kinda 'eh' in my book.

Don't see how this is a big deal honestly. Let's Plays ect are supposed to be for fun, not profit. The very thought of giving money to that seems off. Now, if the uploader has a separate donation pool, I have zero issue with that. Let the fans fund it if they truly care about a channel on video games.

I know if I uploaded videos playing Mario games and talking over them, I wouldn't think I deserved to get paid for it. It's a hobby at best.

I disagree with you. Lets play are made for fun, that i agree, but if you need to have a job aside how can you find time to make content?

Youtubers dont make videos for the money, and they all say that, but they do have to eat everyday.

Youtubers are just one kind of entertainers like any other, they deserve to be payed for the work the do. Its not because they use a different medium or a different platform that they should be considered any differently. I think if you make videos on youtube, you have an audience, you deserve to be paid.

Tv works the same way, someone entertains you about something then they get paid because of the ads.

If you believe that your personnal content doesnt deserve retribution then you are free to make that choice, and its an honorable one, but other rely on that for living. And i guess you are not one of them.

I can understand you point of view but i think its important to look at the larger picture

[cDNA]

yea but maybe they are worried about the people like me who just watch the game and dont play it. if its an all story game (more or less) why pay for the game when u can watch it like free tv?

Well i donk know about you but i've watch many letsplays of many games, some from start to finish, and i think i ended up buying somewhere beetwen 60 to 70 % of the games i watched.

That not 100% i agree but the fact is that i wouldnt have even heard of most of those games if it wasnt for youtubers. Especialy indie games that struggle a lot to get heard of.

[Lays]

Well i donk know about you but i've watch many letsplays of many games, some from start to finish, and i think i ended up buying somewhere beetwen 60 to 70 % of the games i watched.

That not 100% i agree but the fact is that i wouldnt have even heard of most of those games if it wasnt for youtubers. Especialy indie games that struggle a lot to get heard of.

 

Yeah I don't understand why developers would be mad about MILLIONS of people watching videos/learning things about their games and it's of no cost to them.  What more could you ask for as a company when your product reaches millions of people without any advertisement money being spent?

[smjpl]

 I think this is a serious blow to the way media is moving. On the other hand, does this mean everyone will move over to twitch? Most the youtubers have stream anyway. I know its a streaming platform but it wouldn't be a huge leap to swap either. Everyone already hates google. It just depends on whether twitch would have them.

 

Good.

 

The whole point of video game type videos on Youtube, at least to me, are supposed to entertain your fans as the number one priority....

 

I completely disagree with you. Others above me have stated reasons why.

[n0ah1897]

I wouldn't say game play videos should be taken down outright, that's lame. As @cDNA said, it's free advertisement. My stance is that I don't believe they deserve to get paid for it, but should continue to upload game play vids for non-profit.

I disagree. While it can be for fun, youtube is a job for most (big) let's players. It's not like they are getting paid for just playing video games. The amount of work that goes into the making of one video is intense. A lot of these let's players only get to play video games when recording. So like an hour to 3 per day. Obviously, depending on the game and the type of video they are making, they can have more or less time to play than an hour or so. The rest of their day is spent editing, rendering, uploading and then they have to deal with real life things on top of that. They still are creating original content, they are just using a different medium (video games). Think of hollywood actors. All the shit they do is content created from someone else. All they do is say their lines and act pretty, yet they get paid ass tons of money. YouTubers are entertainers just like anybody else in the TV or movie business, except they work their asses off a whole lot more than any damn actor ever would. Sure there are the bogus let's players that put little effort into their videos and still get huge amounts of views, but that is just a handful of the entire Let's Player population.

[Mooshi]

I disagree. While it can be for fun, youtube is a job for most (big) let's players. It's not like they are getting paid for just playing video games. The amount of work that goes into the making of one video is intense. A lot of these let's players only get to play video games when recording. So like an hour to 3 per day. Obviously, depending on the game and the type of video they are making, they can have more or less time to play than an hour or so. The rest of their day is spent editing, rendering, uploading and then they have to deal with real life things on top of that. They still are creating original content, they are just using a different medium (video games). Think of hollywood actors. All the shit they do is content created from someone else. All they do is say their lines and act pretty, yet they get paid ass tons of money. YouTubers are entertainers just like anybody else in the TV or movie business, except they work their asses off a whole lot more than any damn actor ever would. Sure there are the bogus let's players that put little effort into their videos and still get huge amounts of views, but that is just a handful of the entire Let's Player population.

 

 I understand that aspect, but I still feel the same. I don't think video game footage warrants monetization.  Actors are part of a contract to get paid absurd amounts of money and also have agents, LPers upload game content and talk over it. I'm more than ok if they had a donation paypal where fans can chip in, but I don't feel like a big corporation like Google should pay them for what many people do in their spare time with their buds.

[exyia]

I think this is a good move

 

The problem is that the whole "fair use" argument has been overlooked. it's getting to the point where it needs clear defining now, but nobody wants to man up and stir the pot

 

if you read the article, there is a nicely compiled list of many companies and their policy - you can clearly see that MANY of them don't allow monetization on their content. This is something YOU agree to with Terms and Conditions - that wall of text everyone just clicks Accept to without reading. If you don't agree with their Terms/Conditions, you should have been fighting it YEARS ago - back when the game you bought was released, back when you were asked to accept said Terms/Conditions.

 

but no, people just clicked Accept and moved on. a few years ago, it wasn't a big deal. Now, people make a living off breaking a rule that they already agreed to. If anything, partnering with a major network to get around this was cheating - and now Youtube is looking to put a stop to it. Youtube is merely attending to the rules of the content holders - you should be fighting with them if you have a problem with their "monetization" policies on their content - NOT Youtube.

[gastew15]

I wouldn't say game play videos should be taken down outright, that's lame. As @cDNA said, it's free advertisement. My stance is that I don't believe they deserve to get paid for it, but should continue to upload game play vids for non-profit.

I don't see you shouldn't get paid for your work, since if that was the case wouldn't all professional reviewers of everything be unpaid?

[Rekhyt]

 I understand that aspect, but I still feel the same. I don't think video game footage warrants monetization.  Actors are part of a contract to get paid absurd amounts of money and also have agents, LPers upload game content and talk over it. I'm more than ok if they had a donation paypal where fans can chip in, but I don't feel like a big corporation like Google should pay them for what many people do in their spare time with their buds.

 

First, and as we all know, they get paid for ad views, regardless of the content. That's not the same thing as throwing money at people for playing Mario, Google doesn't "pay them for playing", google gives them a cut of the advertising revenue that the videos generated for them.

 

Second, and regardless of my previous point, why shouldn't they? Buying electronics, unboxin them and playing with them is certainly something I like to do and do a lot. Shouldn't Linus get ad revenue either then?

What about video game review websites? Those are also people who play games for a living and give their opinion on the internet. Is it unfair that they make money from it in your model?

 

Third, monetization is incentive. By allowing monetization models to exist on any given platform, you create competition, not everyone can be big and get the money; that's how you increase the amount of content produced, and its production quality. That's the difference between listening to A) a TB review that's been researched and thought out by a smart guy, and recorded and edited on good equipment, or B ) an excited 17 year old guy in his college dorm screaming "WAAAAA BRO I JUST KILLED THAT DUDE SHIIIIIIT" into his integrated microphone at 240p with music in the background.

 

Entertainment is moving away from television and cable; Platforms like youtube and netflix are becoming the main entertainment hubs, and if you want quality, regular content to be available on those platforms (free of charge to you, I might add) you have to realize that content is legitimate as long as it has viewers, and that it's not only normal, but essential to compensate those who create the content, and do it well.

[Mooshi]

Guys, Linus is sponsored and even beyond that, when you see a video by him, you see him..not someone else's creation (in this case, video game video) with his voice thrown over it. Seriously I don't get how you can toss Linus into this when he puts out his own content and not talk over someone elses. That argument would only be valid if Linus were reuploading something like an Asus commercial with him doing a voice over. We clearly know that doesn't happen, ever. He gets contacted and provided a review sample to talk about. That is not even near being in the same ball park of monetizing a game play video.

 

Argument is moot, try harder.

[Rekhyt]

Guys, Linus is sponsored and even beyond that, when you see a video by him, you see him..not someone else's creation (in this case, video game video) with his voice thrown over it. Seriously I don't get how you can toss Linus into this when he puts out his own content and not talk over someone elses.

 

Argument is moot.

 

 

Not someone else's creation? So Linus makes graphics cards and fans himself?

 

Of course not, in both cases someone gets someone else's product, be it a game or a phone, plays it/uses it, and then creates footage showcasing said product and gives a commentary.

[Mooshi]

Not someone else's creation? So Linus makes graphics cards and fans himself?

 

Of course not, in both cases someone gets someone else's product, be it a game or a phone, plays it/uses it, and then creates footage showcasing said product and gives a commentary.

 

 

 

Linus is sponsored

 

 

He gets contacted and provided a review sample to talk about

 

 

I can't spell this out any clearer. If someone is provided something and are sponsored to discuss it, it's a contract. Some random guy uploading a video without said contracts making money isn't as legit.

[Jack.EXE]

Some people on youtube don't have jobs, they rely on youtube's income so that they can spend more time making higher quality videos.

 

Take away pay on gaming videos and these youtubers will suddenly go away.

[Rekhyt]

I can't spell this out any clearer. If someone is provided something and are sponsored to discuss it, it's a contract. Some random guy uploading a video without said contracts making money isn't as legit.

 

 

Serious video game reviewers, i.e. the ones that make money from it are also given review codes for free and have direct interactions with the studios. So there goes that.

 

Linus' sponsorship deals aren't systematic (they only apply to the WAN show, or computex coverage, ...), AND Linus hasn't always been sponsored. To get big enough for sponsorship, you have to go a long while on ad revenue only. Game reviewers also get the occasional sponsorship from major game events and such . So there goes that too

[samysnes]

 LPers upload game content and talk over it.

 

I think you're missing the point by excluding many video game content CREATORS. Go watch an AngryJoe review and tell me that's not HIS content and that he doesn't deserve to be paid for his work. I understand that, at his level, he gets review copies and gets the rights to make the video by the dev themselves and this won't affect his channel, but it's gonna be even harder to become big on youtube for newcomers. That makes me sad that a lot of serious content creators like him won't even get a chance to make it now.

[Scionyde]

Personally, I've never cared for LP vids since most seem to be trying wayyyy too hard to be funny.

 

But I suppose that's irrelevant, these guys put in a decent amount of work, provide entertainment to people, and provide ad revenue to youtube, and free advertising to developers. Vids from people like PewDiePie and Tobuscus may irritate me, but I think they have some right to exist and make some money.

 

In principle, aren't LP vids pretty similar to what MST3K did? Damn, I loved that show...