Nintendo has always been very protective of their intellectual property. They have made a name for themselves by aggressively protecting their intellectual properties and going after even community, fan made content  – such as when they took down Full Screen Mario. Now, Nintendo once again finds themselves chasing down violators after they had a YouTuber banned for posting Super Mario Odyssey content before the official release. The only problem is that it’s possible the Youtuber did nothing wrong.

Things are not the same as they were in 2013 when Nintendo was seeking ad revenue for all Nintendo based videos and content. However, Nintendo has still gone after a few content creators in recent times – such as targeting Angry Joe two years ago and flagging one of his videos for copyright claim.

Until this most recent event, Nintendo had largely found a middle-ground with Youtubers and Streamers. This new incident could indicate more harsh oversight from Nintendo, especially considering the fact that this Youtuber was banned for three months for something that may not have been his fault. It wasn’t as if he had pirated the game or found an illegal way of getting early access. He simply went to a game store and purchased Super Mario Odyssey as an early release. As far as punishments go, it seems the store should be who Nintendo is blaming.

After all, it was the store that released the copy early to the gamer, and while it makes sense to take down the videos, it makes little sense to punish the user for what he may have perceived as a fair use of the game’s content. Unfortunately, this has happened before. Due to Youtube’s content policies, they have free reign to interpret conflicts however they please, but they often, if not always, side with the developer. While this might often be good in theory, it has also empowered toxic developers, the kind which Steam banned from their storefront. While Nintendo is far from those smaller, toxic developers, it is a little disconcerting how quickly Youtube dishes out punishment without investigating.

This doesn’t paint the easiest picture for content creators, who already walk on eggshells to avoid having videos taken down, flagged for demonetization, or flagged for removal. This is a complicated matter to be sure, one which doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. However, what many content creators want is to understand the rules. As far as legality goes, there is a fair case to make, but they aren’t making a legal case. So long as they are using Youtube, they are subject to Youtube’s guidelines. And while some have found their methods extreme, at the end of the day, nothing can be done about Youtube’s content policies. Youtubers and streamers will simply have to be more cautious, no matter how safe they think they are.