The famous Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild modder has criticized Nintendo after the company issued copyright strikes for several of its YouTube videos. While Breath of the Wild’s modding scene is relatively small, Nintendo clearly doesn’t want players to see the game played out in new and unexpected ways.
When Breath of the Wild was first released in 2017, it was an instant hit and an early system seller for the Nintendo Switch, with players praising the game for its remarkable open world. Over the years, Breath of the Wild has been considered the open-world benchmark that others should strive to reach, and that greatness has manifested itself in an active online community that remains excited about the game to this day.
The tweets come from Breath of the Wild modder PointCrow, who Nintendo has claimed copyright on several of his videos on YouTube. While the videos were initially blocked due to the original statement, they have since been reinstated following an appeal. Still, the videos hadn’t been monetized until the announcement. PointCrow’s video focuses on completing Breath of the Wild challenges using their own modified version of the game. PointCrow believes they “significantly changed their work” in the process, meaning the videos qualify as fair use.
While the move is regrettable, it’s not surprising to see Nintendo take this approach. In the past, Did You Know Gaming has faced copyright attacks from Nintendo, which is known for its strict protection policies for its online games. Interestingly, Nintendo claims that the videos from PointCrow are all several months old, and neither party has said why these older videos are being targeted now rather than when they were released. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo has any comment on the situation in the coming days, though the company has tended to keep quiet on these matters in the past.
The timing of this decision is interesting. With the release of The Legend of Zelda : Kingdom Tears next month, PointCrow’s videos are exactly the type of content that could attract whole new players to the series, so it’s interesting that Nintendo apparently doesn’t see them as beneficial free-to-play marketing. One user responded to the Twitter thread with the theory that Nintendo may have taken this step due to PointCrow’s use of an emulator, though another pointed out that other outlets have been making Zelda emulations for years without issue. content.
The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild is available for Nintendo Switch and Wii U.