Twitch Streamers Banned For Playing Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity

In before the tedious and sanctimonious 'in before' comments.

Nintendo’s draconian lawyers are really on a roll this week, aren’t they?

Probably a time zone issue. Gotta feel for those not living in GMT or one of the US times, they’re continually screwed over.

That just SUCKS. Hopefully his strike is removed.

Besides Region free, now we need Timezone free.

I mean, the country is streaming from the game wasn’t out yet in. It’s a little harsh perhaps, but he bought it from the Australian Eshop as it wasn’t out on his own eshop yet. Nobody is stopping him playing the game he bought (which is probably all a purchase gives you the right to do)

At first I thought he got his hands on a physical copy early and was therefore breaking NDA but realized that he just downloaded it from the Australian eshop. The ban seems a little harsh, if they don't want stuff like this happening have a better global digital distribution.

Uhhhhh maybe wait for the global launch before streaming it.

Sucks that this happened though.

it's probably because of the leaks

oh and you can watch the full game movie on Youtube.

@w00dm4n
Yup. The ending is going to disappoint everyone.

You'll see.

@JR150 Nice job just spoiling things, man.

Anyways it's likely an error. Japanese players were also getting banned even though the game was already out

@Nintendemon
Hey I didn't give specifics. Besides, people have the right to know. It's borderline false advertising. Everyone is buying it thinking that's what it is but they'll find out why on their own tomorrow.

@JustMe I believe I was specifically talking about Nintendo’s lawyers and not the company itself?

We have no inherent right to stream games ...

The courts have already said that steaming a narrative game is copyright infringement. And why wouldn't it be? Like think about it for two seconds; you're Nintendo, you paid writers and voice actors millions to bring the story to life, and Joe Blow on twitch is using that content you created to not only give that experience to people who haven't paid you, but to make money for themselves? Ummm ... copyright is a thing to prevent exactly that.

Not only that, but most narrative games go out of their way to explicitly state you can't stream them in the EULA now. Steaming is for games like DOTA and CS:GO where no narrative experience is being "stolen" and the only thing on display is the experience the streamer is creating.

Nintendo is 100% in the right here. I might not like that, but legally and logically they need to be able to stop people from broadcasting content they created.

Like everyone said time one issue.

Outrageous! I'd be giving them absolute hell. It was bought from the eShop... Nintendo need to brief their teams properly.

Just bought Age of Calamity in local store.

There is no frame rate problems at all, and works fine in portable mode too.
So far i like it even better than the old HW.

This is a bit strange, hopefully its just an oversight as how can someone get a ban for streaming a legally obtained game.
Everyone worried about spoilers its quite simple - don't watch them.

I traveled to the future to see the ending.... They all die 🤣🤣🤣

I saw they started with saying “Bro” so I didn’t bother reading the rest.

Nintendo should release the games in Australia, New Zealand and Japan one day later. Problem solved.

Ah well, a 48 hour ban is like a hug and a kiss anyway.

Ugh. Why do even come here anymore. Too many self righteous plonkers. “We have no right to stream - think about it”

Have a day off Rodney, streamers sell games - the industry embraced these people and have sold millions of games of the expanded reach the industry has.

Nintendo again not looking classy here. Being heavy handed by 24hours or less is just stupid.

Back to all the Nintendo life legal eagles and morale high grounders.

FYI - I can’t stand streaming or any of that nonsense but at least I understand it.

@Stocksy Think this every time I'm on here.

@HeadPirate Nope.

@JR150 The ending disappointed me because it’s showing me how far Nintendo has gone from their original idea of Zelda games. Yikes, I can’t tell you how many times I cringed. And whoever made the ending sure was obsessed with Zeldas face.

@TG16_IS_BAE
I'm honestly not even a fan of Zelda. My issue is that they contradict what they advertised it as. It should've just been called Hyrule Warriors "2" or something.

@HeadPirate wtf are you talking about?
Nobody plays any nintendo game for the story... All the experience comes from the gameplay.
Nintendo just randomly banning anyone who is trying to advertise their games.

Maybe they have the right to do so, but they are just acting like ***** who are trying to bully their own fans.

@JR150 That makes sense, but in my mind all things past Zelda 3 make little to no sense in the game timeline. And you’re right, the amount of hype surrounding this game is making it sound like something it’s not.

It’s amazing that we live in a day and age where corporations just bully whoever they like.

@HeadPirate when did they decide that? Being honest because I haven't read about anything going to trial on it.

This is one example of Nintendo banning the WRONG PEOPLE. There are in fact a few YouTubers out there who have broken their NDAs by uploading spoilers gameplay videos before the Japanese release date, yet they're still not banned.

@Ventilator Blink twice if nintendo is holding your family hostage

Nintendo? More like uhhh No-fun-tendo.

Got 'em.

Mine had a timelock for uploading videos until today. I literally just posted 5 clips on Facebook for it. All have the correct copyrights added. I am assuming the bans are to help Nintendo monitor potential spoilers and let people actually enjoy having a new game. I posted gameplay to encourage a few friends to try it.

Classic So classic.

Can’t have everyone finding out that this isn’t the prequel it’s being marketed as, right? 🙄

This is a certified BRUH MOMENT

I've noticed that in Japan you ask the company if you can stream a game before you stream it. I know it's an annoying step and if you're still a small streamer you probably won't even get a response but just the simple act of asking permission can save you a lot of headache in the long run.

Looks like Nintendo of America got a bit overzealous due to the leaks. Technically though, they were playing it early, on American time.

@HeadPirate

You are so wrong it isn't even funny.

"The courts have already said that steaming a narrative game is copyright infringement"

No they haven't. You are straight up lying. But in the off-chance I'm wrong, link the court case. Second, this depends ENTIRELY what country you are from. Not everyone on the planet is American buddy, or subject to crappy American copyrights laws.

Twitch pulled it down because they didn't want to deal with a court case. That's it. Not because of any kind of legal breach. In the same way Youtube removes videos even if they are 100% legal and within Fair Use. It is purely to save money. Nothing more.

"explicitly state you can't stream them in the EULA now"

EULA and other Shrink-wrap agreements aren't law. They are barely even enforceable. For most of Europe they aren't even legally binding. For the US it is a grey area and they would have to prove you not only read the agreement, but actually agreed to it. If you were to take it to court, Nintendo likely wouldn't win. A EULA is essentially a contract. A contract that didn't have any kind of legal professional present, no witnesses, or any kind of proof you even agreed to it. EULAs are largely legally worthless. Their entire purpose is to force people into court, which 99.9999% of people would never do.

"using that content you created to not only give that experience to people who haven't paid you, but to make money for themselves? Ummm ... copyright is a thing to prevent exactly that."
...
"for games like DOTA and CS:GO where no narrative experience is being "stolen" and the only thing on display is the experience the streamer is creating."

You are contradicting yourself, further emphasizing the fact you have no clue what you are talking about. You are creating an arbitrary (and contradictory) distinction between the two purely cover-up your own inconsistancy.

If you consider streaming a "narrative based game" an infringement of copyright, then that means the EXACT SAME THING applies to ALL games. All of them. And music. And pictures. And every single thing you could possibly stream. Why? Because the entire foundation of what you are saying is based on the idea that Streaming copyrighted material (music, art, characters, stories, ideas, voices, etc) falls under copyright protection for sharing content. Which includes the art and music and characters in DOTA. You cannot just say "oh streaming narrative games is copyright, but DOTA isn't". That is contradictory. If one is true, BOTH have to be true to stay logically consistent.

So the question is, do you want people to have the right to stream video games? If the answer is yes, than you should be 100% what Nintendo just did. This is just an exercise on how incredibly antiquated (especially US) copyright laws are. However, some of use understand that this sort of thing is an abuse of copyright. Copyright is supposed to protect works from being duplicated (I.E. video game piracy) in a conservative sense. Not in the most broad and literal sense (Streaming counts of duplication). Going by the literal sense, that would mean taking a photo of your friend that included, say, Zelda in the background and put in on Facebook is copyright. Which is absurd. Do you want to live in that kind of world?

You are just fanboying because it is obvious you haven't really thought about anything you actually said.

@Cotly That seems like a Twitch/Time Zone problem not his if we are being 100% honest. Nintendo could just outline their rules for streaming internationally with releases and make it known if this would be an issue and ask streamers to wait a day or something.

@HeadPirate care to cite your sources?
And no copyright infringement does not cover someone playing a game on twitch no matter what. If that were the case then why haven't all streamers that did a twitch stream of single player games get hit with this bs? I'll wait for your response(but won't count on it).

Get a job, ya bum.

@JR150 So what you're saying is that this game doesn't really fit the BOTW timeline? Is that it?

Because if it is so I really couldn't care less about this game. And I already didn't care much.

Most likely timezone issue.

@Switcheroot
It doesn't. BOTW does not properly continue from AOC's ending. You can look it up for yourself.

Men are to blame.

Da fucc, why, Just why!? Im not even suprised anymore

DMCA takedowns are getting ridiculous. Any company or rights holder that issues them for something like streaming will only see a reduction in purchases and increase in piracy, due to the war against their customers.

@HeadPirate The legal system Is a bit outdated then, people bought the game with their own money, now its their property, they should be able to stream it , still, guess there nothing to do about it

@praftd Thank you

@Ventilator No frame rate problems? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely loving the game so far - but the frame rate is all over the place. While it hardly ruins the experience - it, in fact, creates a fun, chaotic atmosphere at times - it is highly noticeable and is definitely a drawback overall.

@NathanTheAsian we're looking at you Prosafia Gaming.

nintendo is to blame

If you stream yourself reading a book or watching a movie you should be prepared for a takedown so I don't see why games, especially with a narrative would be any different. A 48 hour ban isn't that bad.

@SwitchLife Compared to the terrible demo, it's good.
The demo were as good as unplayable since.
By PC standards, anything below 60/120 fps is bad.

@FireballXTC That comment, with your profile picture...gold! : )

@jump good for you, I guess? Are you expecting a medal or something?

@Enigk
Its also 48 hours he can't make his livelyhood. Also if thats true why has none of the videos showcasing it on youtube been taken down? The cinematic movies people make of the whole story which probably would be under that same umbrella.

@Wickedspades At least they will be able to go back to "work" after 48 hours. This little debacle will likely get them more viewers after this publicity anyway. It isn't like they aren't allowed to play the game. Like when you were a teenager and you got grounded and couldn't have your friends round to play. You just played without anyone watching and you had your pocket money docked.
There are many people who are worse off this year who provide more essential services but had to stop work due to government guidelines so a 48 hour ban on Twitch gets little sympathy from me.

Whether we like it or not, streaming a copyrighted game is considered a performance under US copyright laws. Technically every US based streamer is breaking the law when they stream games to an audience in Twitch. For most companies, they see this as free marketing but not all. Nintendo is one that doesn’t and typically has strict guideline for what they allow.

This streamer attempted to get around the rules and got burned. Stupid as it seems, he broke the law and was punished. You cannot stream copyrighted material to 100s of people without permission of the copyright holder. Has nothing to do with the story material or anything else. It’s the same reason that illegal NFL game rebroadcasters get shut down.

This guy wasn’t a hero, he was attempting to manipulate distribution to gain a financial benefit and suffered for it.

EDIT: This is what the big stupid mess with old video takedowns was about too. They all streamed (performed) copyrighted music in their streams and the copyright holder said no. The way Twitch went about it was in violation of the law, but the takedowns were probably due to copyright violations flagged by the rights holder.

@PhhhCough I don't know what's worse, him or the people that are paying him.

I'll play it instead

@HeadPirate A wise man once said "Just because you can doesn't mean you should".

I had ordered a refurbished Switch and a ring fit today but I just cancelled them because I don't support dickery like this.