Two years ago, YouTuber PointCrow put up $10,000 of his own money as a reward for anyone that can create a multiplayer mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Around two years later (give or take), the unlikely has finally happened as PointCrow released the multiplayer mod by AlexMangue and Sweet for the rest of the world to enjoy.
Unfortunately, what should’ve been a joyous moment turned sour rather quickly.
Now that fans have had a chance to experiment with the Breath of the Wild multiplayer mod, Nintendo has DMCA’d all the videos featuring it.
Update: I have appealed these claims. As of now, they are still visible for you to watch — however, they are not monetized. Hopefully Nintendo releases these claims, as I significantly transform their work and my videos are under fair use.
— eric pointcrow (@PointCrow) April 7, 2023
PointCrow shared what happened on Twitter where he posted screenshots of how Nintendo has taken down mod-related videos on his YouTube channel due to copyright claims.
Most companies rarely bother penalizing content creators for creating and sharing content based on their projects online. It’s not unusual for companies to use such images to promote their games and to touch base with their community. One of the few companies that are very stingy about fan-created projects and mods is Nintendo.
It’s unclear if Nintendo will reverse its decision after PointCrow presumably appeals for it.
What’s interesting here is that Nintendo didn’t at least wait for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to launch before it took down the YouTube videos. It’s easy to see how this could generate a ton of negative publicity that could affect sales of the Breath of the Wild sequel. Other companies would’ve encouraged the content creator to keep on posting videos if only to serve as “free” marketing for the upcoming follow-up.
Then again, Nintendo is probably confident that Tears of the Kingdom will sell well. The most recent gameplay showcase is converting plenty of fans who were initially fearful that Tears of the Kingdom would push the Nintendo Switch past its limits similar to what happened with the most recent mainline Pokemon games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is launching as a Switch exclusive on May 12. Nintendo is reportedly working on post-launch DLC content for the game.
