Nintendo targets YouTuber for uploading Zelda: Breath of the Wild multiplayer mod footage

Nintendo continues its war against content creation as it once again takes down numerous videos, this time from YouTuber PointCrow, who was brought to the company’s attention after uploading a video featuring a multiplayer mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The details:

• On April 7, Zelda speedrunner Eric "PointCrow" Morino received a copyright strike for a video he uploaded the day before, showcasing the Breath of the Wild multiplayer mod he had tested out with friends eight months earlier. Morino offered developers AlexMangue and Sweet $10,000 to create the mod, which was then released in PointCrow's Discord server for all to play within a Wii U emulator. Morino had uploaded multiple videos involving the mod, which collectively garnered millions of views, but it appears that Nintendo has caught wind of the mod's release and is now attempting to prevent it from gaining traction.
• Morino made a video pleading with Nintendo on April 14 after the company filed a total of 28 copyright claims and strikes against his channel, targeting content from Breath of the Wild dating back to 2019, as well as other Nintendo IPs including Wii Sports and Super Mario Odyssey. The claims appear to have been directed at any videos that included modded content within Nintendo's games or mentioned the word "mod" in the title at first, but they have since "spiraled into something else entirely," in Morino's words. In the video, the content creator requests that Nintendo "remove these strikes and claims or at least start a dialogue" with Morino and his team, though it does not appear that Nintendo has yet responded directly to Morino or any publications that have requested a comment.
• Nintendo is well-known for taking advantage of the copyright system, particularly on YouTube, to claim videos featuring gameplay from any of its IPs. During the Wii U's lifespan, for example, the company filed copyright claims against anyone who dared to use even the smallest amount of footage from its games, despite having little legal ground to stand on. Many thought the practice had ended when videos started reappearing on the internet with no further action taken, but it appears that the Japanese gaming giant may be returning to its old ways after Croton, another Zelda content creator, had some of their streams and videos removed from YouTube on April 13 ahead of the release of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May.

More Nintendo news:

• Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario series, has stated that "mobile apps will not be the primary path of future Mario games," confirming that Mario will not appear in any future mobile titles following the mixed reception of the plumber's three releases since 2016's Super Mario Run.
• Nintendo has requested a subpoena from Discord to obtain the personal information of the person responsible for leaking the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom art book a few months ago. In February 2023, the leaker shared images from the art book on Reddit and Discord before the posts and server were removed in response to DMCA takedown requests.