Google Stadia director says streamers should pay companies.

[Ielenia]

Don't Stadia games cost money? I would assume a decent chunk of that goes to the publisher yes (and then from there on to the devs, if they are lucky...)

Yes, it costs money to buy the games, but, hey, the guy wants the streamers to pay royalties to the game companies despite BUYING their game, so there's that...

[Serpha]

Without streamers none of the likes on PUBG Fortinght and whatever would ever gain such popularity. I despise the streamer culture and most of them to say they need to pay developers is asinine and dishonest.

[gcsmith]

If you are profiting from someone else’s copyright you need to pay them a royalty. Period.

Not true, in fact, pretty much every game development studio has clarified that people are free to stream their games. Why? Because it nets them money. No longer do they have to worry about pushing out demo's and some studios can cut advertising budget if they think streaming will reach more of their core demographic.

Not to mention, many games success were heavily tied to youtube/streaming such as minecraft or even more recently both fall guys and the revitalized Among Us.

[Wries]

I think the developer should have the right to say no. It might not be benefitial for them in many cases but it should be up to them and not the millionaires on twitch.

[callipygoustp]

With such keen insights, no wonder Stadia is doing so well. What a fucking moron.

[Very Tired]

It's kind of a moot point seeing as if any company wanted to enforce streamers paying to stream their games, would basically be shooting themselves in the foot. Both in their game's sales and negative PR. Any company with half a brain knows streamers net them a profit with free publicity and what not. Even if the option to force streamers to pay was there, they likely wouldn't push it on them.

[Varitok]

Legally? Any company could easily win a lawsuit against streamers streaming their game. It would all come down to the Playing vs watching argument that separates games from Music or Movies.

In practice? It would be devastating to some games, Ask the devs of Among Us or Fall Guys if they want that 500 dollar license fee from the streamers instead of that exposure.

[Thorcall]

I think the developer should have the right to say no. It might not be benefitial for them in many cases but it should be up to them and not the millionaires on twitch.

I think its the case. Its been some years but in the past nintendo was forbidding streaming or making video of their games unless the youtuber/streamers has a contract with them. Nothing prevent editor to claim a video on yt or twitch, its the same thing as music, movie ect. They just don't do it, because free advertising is beneficial for them.

edit : not so long actually, I did some research and find this article, it looks like they stopped in 2018
https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/28/...lay-livestream

[Evolixe]

The mutual benefit is so great this absolutely makes no sense whatsoever.

There is a reason a lot of companies are paying streamers to play their game on stream for them.

If you turn this around, while you legally could, would just kill streaming for people not already established in it.
With eventually the industry itself following after it.

[Leyre]

No, they aren’t. See, for that to be the case the streamer would have to have a deal with said company that stipulates as much.

Because Among Us became the sensation that is now on his own, right?

[tomten]

I think google should buy and license all the data they steal about us and sell for their targeted ads.... The hypocrisy is unreal...

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I mean, you realize that the majority do right? Just because you don't bother to actually read the ToS/User Agreement doesn't mean it magically goes away. Pretty much every game from a publisher/company of any decent size has a clause in their licensing agreement that says that the game can only be used for personal, non-commercial purposes only. It's just that most companies don't bother to take legal action against people violating those clauses.

Did YOU bother to read them? Even EA has no problems with it and its explicity written in their TOS that their games can be used to monetize videos/streams online... Yes, thats right EA........ And its like that for most companies, if you're only guessing or outright blatantly lie, dont even bother to join the discussion....

[Volatilis]

I think google should buy and license all the data they steal about us and sell for their targeted ads.... The hypocrisy is unreal...

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Did YOU bother to read them? Even EA has no problems with it and its explicity written in their TOS that their games can be used to monetize videos/streams online... Yes, thats right EA........ And its like that for most companies, if you're only guessing or outright blatantly lie, dont even bother to join the discussion....

EA likely have no problem with it because teenagers recording themselves opening card packs and getting a team of the year Ronaldo or Messi card for Fifa Ultimate online and they go mental throwing their chair/screaming like a madman helps encourage others to spend loads on MTX for card packs.

[arandomuser]

Look this is how legacy media operates, if a cable show or nmovie producer wants to use someone elses IP they have to get permission and sometimes that includes a royalty, but in a practical sense this kind of thing would basically kill streaming and no company has even pursued something like that ( besides probably nintendo on youtube) even though they may legally be able to in regards with streaming, but its never been tested in court whether or not full time streaming is within fair use. But talking about applying rules or standards triggers a visceral reaction in the community, like DMCA and music, or limits on words you can say in twitch chat, I would hope no companies would ever do something, but then again look at the situation with music, and for comparison other media to use songs in videos often do have to pay hefty royalties, the movie yesterday had to pay 10 million $

[tomten]

EA likely have no problem with it because teenagers recording themselves opening card packs and getting a team of the year Ronaldo or Messi card for Fifa Ultimate online and they go mental throwing their chair/screaming like a madman helps encourage others to spend loads on MTX for card packs.

Youtube tried this a few years ago and it didn't go down well and 99% of publishers actively said they wanted content creators to play their games and also updated their EULA's to reflect that.... Almost everyone allows this, the guy is just making shit up...

[Echeyakee]

That's a strange justification that guy used, "<..> they're streaming games they didn't pay for <..>", when the reality is the opposite. Or, often they are even streaming games they were given by the publisher for free, with the expectation that they will be streamed.

Now, the discussion of morality and legality of profiting from streaming games is a different, much more complex topic. You'd have to consider things like advertisement value, both in direct sales and brand recognition, versus potential lost sales and bad rep. And you would have to consider stream viewers to be more of a commodity that streamer provides, as most viewers follow personalities, not games. And there are probably a bunch of other factors, and frankly nobody on this forum is even remotely qualified to discuss that, not that it's going to stop anyone ^_^

Also it's funny to see that coming from someone in charge of stadia, game industry's yet another bidecadal attempt to take away freedom of choice.

[zealo]

This is only the case for 0.0001% of streamers.

And a lot of the rest are being sent copies free of charge by publishers with the expectation they'll do the same.

Don't underestimate how much games being an interactive medium changes the financial calculation of the benefit of it here.

[Xilurm]

What if he was under a contract for a few years but got tired of working for a dead service and just wanted to get fired?

[ldev]

What's the point in using Stadia and re-buying your games when xcloud or geforce now lets you play your own games btw?

[Graeham]

Maybe these companies can worry about streamers paying them when the same companies pay people for their private data?

A pipe dream, of course.

[majesta]

If you are profiting from someone else’s copyright you need to pay them a royalty. Period.

You have no idea how any of this works by such a silly statement.