Microsoft and Machinima say YouTube advertising deal was a typical partnership

Microsoft and Machinima have issued a statement regarding an advertising arrangement that saw YouTube content producers make additional revenue for promoting the Xbox One.

The deal paid out an additional $3 for every thousand views a video received, provided it both mentioned the Xbox One by name and included thirty seconds of footage of the console's games. The video was also not to contain anything negative about the Xbox One, its games, or the Machinima network.

It also appeared that the YouTube creators were required to keep any details about the arrangement private, but Microsoft and Machinima say that this clause related to specifics about the deal, rather than the existence of the deal itself.

"This partnership between Machinima and Microsoft was a typical marketing partnership to promote Xbox One in December," said the joint statement. "The Xbox team does not review any specific content or provide feedback on content. Any confidentiality provisions, terms or other guidelines are standard documents provided by Machinima. For clarity, confidentiality relates to the agreements themselves, not the existence of the promotion."

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a Machinima representative added that these deals usually require content creators to identify that their videos are being sponsored--but that this didn't always happen in the Xbox One promotion deal.

“That didn’t happen here and we’re evaluating why,” the company said. “All participants are being asked today to include our standard language going-forward. We apologize for the error and any confusion.”

Microsoft added that the company was not aware of any of Machinima's contracts, and that it asked the company to make sure disclaimers were added to any videos in the promotion to make people aware of the advertising deal.

The document originally stated that payment was limited to the first 1.25 million video views in the promotion, which means the deal would be capped at $3750. The promotion is said to have expired on January 16.