http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124066-Nintendo-Suddenly-Claims-Ownership-Of-Many-YouTube-VideosYouTube has recently reached out to several large gaming houses whose works or content are regularly shown on YouTube, and asked if these gaming houses would like to receive the ad revenue for themselves instead of the ad revenue going to the uploader of the video.
What I thought was really interesting, in this matter, is that Nintendo accepted this. Any video featuring any depiction of Nintendo's content or intellectual property means that all ad revenue will go to Nintendo. What happens in the case of videos or channels dedicated to things like romhacks? Could Nintendo feasibly be making some small margin of profit off the video footage of someone's romhack, simply because, say, there is a popular video showing off FuSoYa's SMW: The Legend Continues? In that case it seems like there's obvious Nintendo content being portrayed (Mario, various characters and items, music, graphic design maybe), but it seems strange that Nintendo could receive ad revenue for a video that isn't showing off Nintendo property exclusively. In the case of FuSoYa, he and his brother were responsible for the level designs, and even some new code.
On an even more ambiguous note, what about some of those super-detailed overhaul romhacks, like Dragoon X Omega II, or Pyron, that aren't really recognizable any longer as being an original Nintendo project, it being modified so extensively? I understand that it may be quibbled that it would actually be Square-Enix or Konami that ought receive the revenue, but the question still stands. Perhaps let's put it in the opposite direction: years ago, acmlm was making a Final Fantasy I hack that changed the world to be based in the Mario universe, using various assets from the Super Mario Bros. games. I wonder if in a case like this, if a video of acmlm's romhack were to become popular enough, would Nintendo actually be able to take revenue from the video, even though it's not their source property (Final Fantasy I is being modified), but acmlm's use of Mario assets would then land the ad revenue in Nintendo's pockets?
I don't think romhacks are really that prominent for Nintendo to even get ad revenue through, but I thought a few uploaders who have chose to monetize their videos, who are fairly popular, and who do play romhacks occasionally, and it might be something to actually occur, Nintendo indirectly profiting off depictions of its property in videos featuring romhacks. And even that, how far does Nintendo's content extend? Retro City Rampage features a bunch of direct and indirect allusions to Nintendo culture and NES history. It's not a full part of the game, but I wonder if these references or nods existing at all would allow Nintendo to pocket the ad revenue generated via the videos?