TBC 012: Kickstarter Vs. Gaming Industry

Play

This month’s podcast is all about Kickstarter, a website that has made many modern video games possible. Thanks to Kickstarter’s crowdfunding model, fans have had more of a say than ever before in which new gaming projects get greenlit. However, there have been more than a few Kickstarter horror stories as well (including our own), so we’ll dive into all of that and discuss if crowdfunding is really good for the gaming industry, or if we’d be better off without it.

Ready for more TBC Podcast? We are an ad-free show, and you can support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/twobuttoncrew

Get Your Daily Nintendose of Fandom on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/TwoButtonCrew

“Exit the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Nintendo’s Making Lots of Excuses


Nintendo, supply, and demand. Three words that don’t always mesh together very well. They’re at it again, this time with the SNES Classic Edition. And when the Public Relations dude at Nintendo seems lost for words, well, the situation must not be pretty. Also, Sonic Forces isn’t shaping up too well on Switch. Unfortunately, a bit of a downer this News week. However, we round things out by talking about the awesome Nintendo World Championships!

“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Streaming Nintendo Games – Needlessly Complex

So, you want to stream Nintendo games, huh? I don’t blame you! They make the best first party games. An incredible amount of polish and attention to detail goes into every title that the Japanese game developer publishes.

The origin of these games does bring up an interesting point to consider, however: there’s quite a big culture difference between Nintendo and many of their competitors in the market. They make weird decisions that don’t always make sense to their fans here in America, Europe, or elsewhere around the globe. Sometimes the ways that Nintendo interacts with their fans can only be described as “backward.”

Let me put it bluntly: they don’t make it easy for you to stream their content. You’re in for a bit of an uphill battle, but don’t let me discourage you! It’s totally possible to get a stream up and running for your Nintendo console.

Well – as long as we’re talking about a home console and not a portable.

For 3DS games, you’re out of luck. You basically have to have a development kit to get any kind of capture device rigged up to your handheld.

So let’s keep the discussion focused on their home consoles. And away we go!

Streaming As A Nintendo Fan

I’m about as big a fan of Nintendo as you can get. I buy everything they release and I make videos about their stuff on a daily basis. My free time is devoted to this company, which is why I hope you’ll understand when I say I’ve never even touched an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 controller. I don’t think I’ve even been in the same room as one (I need to diversify my friends).

But I hear that Microsoft and Sony fans have it a bit easier with streaming. PS4 has a share button that you just press to start your broadcast? Those guys are spoiled!

Nintendo has never catered to streaming culture. They’ve never made it easy to stream their games – it’s not built into the hardware in any way. That is… until now (hopefully!). You see, there is a Share button on their newest product, the Nintendo Switch. It’s still not equipped with built-in streaming capabilities; it only takes screenshots until a future update expands its use.

They say that some form of video sharing is on its way, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

That’s not to say that Nintendo’s hardware prevents you from streaming – you can still arrange a setup that works. For me, I have a Live Gamer Portable device that accepts HDMI (for Wii U, Switch) and AV (Wii). It works very well, and I was able to purchase it for around $100. Not bad to get started with streaming Nintendo games!

Nintendo Creators Program

But not so fast. You see, Nintendo doesn’t like you uploading footage of their games to YouTube and making a profit on it.

There’s nothing they can really do about the ad revenue you receive as you are live on YouTube Gaming or Twitch, but they will seize the AdSense you would normally get off replays.

Your videos with Nintendo content will get flagged instantaneously – you won’t even have time to adjust your video titles, descriptions, or make them go live before they’re claimed by the Big N.

This is one of the main frustrations that Nintendo fans experience as they get into streaming. Why? Because many other companies just aren’t like this. And that’s because they view streamers as “free advertising,” which makes sense. YouTubers and streamers are what game developers call “influencers,” because they/we get the word out about video games. We play the ones we like (usually) and the audience sees us having a great time! Many publishers thank streamers for showing off their product so much.

Nintendo doesn’t see it that way. They see videos featuring their IP and decide that they should control who gets the ad money.

Thankfully, they don’t take it all. The company offers the Nintendo Creators Program which ultimately allows you to receive a portion of the profits from your YouTube videos, whether they are replays from a live stream or original content featuring gameplay property they own.

You sign up for the NCP with your Google account, and you’re faced with two options.

The Limited Options

You can either register your entire channel under the NCP banner, or you can choose to submit flagged videos individually and request part of your revenue back.

Option 1 allows you to receive 60%, and option 2 qualifies you for 50%. Keep in mind, these cuts are taken from the portion not already kept by YouTube itself.

The problem is, option 1 is basically fit for no one but Nintendo’s own YouTube channel. If you register your entire channel, you’re not allowed to feature gameplay from any other company other Nintendo.

Yep – you’re locked into Nintendo gameplay videos if you want to earn the greater portion of your revenue back.

So, inevitably, you’ll choose option 2 and submit each video flagged by Nintendo, and hope they agree to split the profit with you.

The Abysmal List

The reason I say “hope” is because not even every Nintendo game qualifies for this rev-share model. Buried within the NCP program is what they call a whitelist (link for your convenience). Games that are on this list qualify for submission!

Why Nintendo limits this list, I have no idea.

The entire Super Smash Bros. series is notably absent, which drives me nuts because it has a thriving eSports scene and Nintendo should be throwing those fans a bone. Smash players are Nintendo’s most dedicated, hardcore, loyal customers. How do I know? Because they still haul around their Gamecubes and 50 pound CRT televisions to play Super Smash Bros. Melee!

NES Remix for Wii U is whitelisted.
NES Remix 2 is not.

…What?

I’m sorry, I can’t make sense of it for you. I wish I could.

The Principal

After you jump through a few hoops, you’ll be set. Once you get past the NCP registration and the hardware setup, a lot of this nonsense kind of fades into the back of your mind as you start enjoying the games on their own merit and connect with your audience.

Should Nintendo be more understanding to streamers? Yes, they should. But they could also just seize all profits and choose not to offer the NCP, so I won’t complain too much.

The slice of advertising revenue isn’t really worth it to Two Button Crew, so we turned advertising off in favor of receiving support through Patreon. Ads aren’t the only way to make money playing games!

I don’t want to worry about the ad revenue – I just want to have fun playing Nintendo games and making friends with my viewers. Like I said, I’m a dedicated Nintendo fan. I run a YouTube channel that puts out daily content – discussions, reviews, streams – you name it. Check us out at Two Button Crew – we cover the latest developments in the Nintendo sector every single day, and we have literally hundreds of videos for you to browse in the backlog! We’d love to see you around and welcome you to the Crew.

Introducing: Two Button Crew Podcast!

You can make dreams come true.


#539 – Make the Two Button Crew podcast happen

This is it, Crew! We’re super close to our first Patreon stretch goal, and the first podcast episode is completely recorded, edited, mixed and ready to go! It’s all about Zelda: Breath of the Wild, our experiences with the game, and our anticipation going into the first round of DLC. The show was hosted by Scott, Simeon, Ryan, and Glen. You’re going to absolutely love it. By becoming a TBC patron, you get access to a ton of exclusive videos and you also have the ability to help us determine future content (depending on which level you select)! See you inside.
“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

What You Get from Being TBC’s Patron!

We launched our very own Patreon page!

For almost two years, we’ve been making Nintendo discussion and gameplay videos every single weekday. It’s hard to believe we’ve been going for this long!

Well, it’s time to kick things up a notch and we need your help to make it happen. With a bit more support on our page, we’ll be starting the Two Button Crew podcast! And that’s only the beginning.

Giveaway

USA Residents: Back our page at the $5 tier (or higher) by March 31st to be entered to win one of these three prizes!

1. Breath of the Wild Soundtrack 2. Sheikah Coin 3. Apple Store Exclusive Super Mario Run Pin

Credits

Get your name in the credits of all of our videos for only $1 a month!

Votes

For $3 a month, you become involved in the planning of our show’s content by voting on upcoming videos.

Exclusive Videos

Behind-the-Scenes, bloopers, and bonus videos that won’t be available to the public. $5 per month lands you all these extras!

Tees

You can get your hands (and torsos) on TBC’s exclusive tee shirts, designed and distributed only to our highest tier of Patreon backers. Every 3 months that you support us with $15, you’ll receive an exclusive tee in the mail.
Want to see the first design?

“Warped Pipe” – Celebration of Prop Drops and all things Crew. Exclusively available to Patreon backers.

Did I mention that our rewards use stacking tiers? Each reward tier includes the perks of the previous tier!

So hop on over to our Patreon page and join the Crew with your support.

Good luck in the giveaway!

Best Patreon Projects for Nintendo Fans

Guys – you gotta admit – that Pokemon theme song cover was pretty ingenious.


Two Button Crew
Nintendo Force
GameXplain
Boundary Break
Nintendo Age
GameOver Jesse

It’s not easy creating loads of content for YouTube and the Nintendo fandom as a whole. It’s a joy, but a burden at the same time – a labor of love! That’s why we’re urging you to support your favorite creators – vote with your wallet to keep them going!
Shot by Alex Campbell
“Escape the Premises” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/