Streamers Should Buy Licenses for Streaming?
The creative director of Stadia Montreal voiced a rather controversial thesis. According to him, anyone who wants to livestream video games should pay for a relevant license to the developer or publisher.
- Alex Hutchinson, Creative Director of Stadia, believes that streamers and web developers should pay for showing games.
- This would be done by purchasing a relevant license.
- His Twitter post has sparked a storm. Thousands of people have spoken out on the issue, pointing out mistakes in this reasoning.
- Google cut itself off from the opinion by issuing a short statement.
According to Alex Hutchinson, creative director of Montreal's Stadia Games, streamers and online creators should pay developers to show their games in live broadcasts and videos.
Hutchinson's tweet caused a storm in the gaming community. There were some comments from streamers pointing out what is, in their opinion, an idiotic statement from Google's ex-CEO. As commentators rightly noted, streaming a game live by content creators helps to break through the wall and reach many more players.
Others point out that if it wasn't for streamers, many games wouldn't have achieved the success they did. Examples include GTA Online, Among Us or Roblox.
It won't be an exaggeration to write that Alex Hutchinson was literally destroyed by the Twitter community. Very soon we got an official comment from Google:
"The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google."
Ryan Watt, a YouTube employee, also added his two cents:
"We believe that Publishers and Creators have a wonderful symbiotic relationship that has allowed a thriving ecosystem to be created. One that has mutually benefited everyone! YT is focused on creating value for Creators, Publishers, & Users. All ships rise when we work together."
Richard Hoeg, a videogame lawyer, has taken an interesting take on the matter. In his tweet, he wrote that publishers and developers actively encourage the display of their products, despite the fact that the end user license prohibits such activities.
"The industry position is the negotiating position of 'Trust us, we know we aren't granting you the necessary rights, but we won't use that against you. Promise.'"
With the principle of limited trust in large corporations, it is impossible not to be full of fear that one day one of the companies will think they have to pay for the opportunity to show their product. But that won't be a problem for the players, but for content creators, who are constantly struggling with copyright issues and taking their content off Twitch or YouTube.
