@Heirren said:
@aigis:
Again, read about intellectual properties and trademarks. Nintendo's brand IS the company. Letting things run wild and not putting a foot down can run the risk of losing such. This is why they do it.
No company has the right to control their image to that extent. They can use marketing, advertising or PR campaigns or build clauses into agreements for licensing their IP (this would be like the cinema example where previews/films are lent out with certain stipulations) etc; But stretching into the content creation of other people is an ethically black area. If the streamer is buying their own games then they have the right to make content about it and Nintendo isn't owed a penny because that wasn't part of the deal.
If Nintendo want a cut then they have to answer 'why'? Why on Earth are they seeing money? It makes no sense. Nintendo didn't subsidise the purchase or offer anything in exchange. Nor do they offer competing products that would be threatened by the stream (in fact they CAN'T offer a competing product because the whole point of internet criticism is that it ISN'T from the marketing body).
Nintendo is yet another in a long line of companies that seem to think they have the right to control everything about their product after it has been purchased. If they had it their way every game disc would explode after a set amount of time forcing you to buy the game again.
The whole 'people won't play it because they saw it' argument is flawed because i. Nintendo don't make story-focused games for the most part ii. People play games to actually play them, not watch other people play them. These aren't movies/music we are talking about where broadcasting the content is essentially piracy: you simply do not get the experience of the game from watching it.
And yes, fair use does exist without consent of the owner because consent isn't needed because the use is 'fair' (i.e. any attempt to shut down consent would be unreasonable in the first place and so no one need listen to it).
You keep saying companies have the right to control their image. But answer this: Why is it that no other company other than Nintendo does this? If it was a totally fair, reasonable position surely every company would be doing it? It's because it's not. It's an overreaching, draconian attempt to control their image beyond where they have any right to meddle. Nintendo is in a position to control its image all it wants: within the confines of its own autonomy, not that of others.
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