Nintendo says it can't keep up with applications to controversial 'Creators Program'

Nintendo's "Creator's Program," which is more or less a means of controlling the "Let's Play" videos YouTubers create for their games, has been ripped chin-to-groin by many since it was announced. That does not mean it is unpopular.

Nintendo this week said it is receiving so many applications that it's taking much longer than anticipated to process all of them. It appears that some applications concern titles that do not appear on an approved list of games, which will get videos or a user's channel official approval.

Nintendo is asking channels that already have submitted applications to remove videos "that contain game titles outside of the list of supported games" within the next two weeks. If not, the registration will not be approved, though a channel owner may resubmit the application later.

A beta version of the Nintendo Creators Program launched in late January; a full launch is expected May 27. Already it has met with fierce criticism. PewDiePie, a YouTube personality with more than 35 million subscribers, called the move shortsighted and said Nintendo forsakes free publicity in seeking to control who can upload and discuss what. He called it a "slap in the face" to smaller channels and enthusiast YouTubers.

While Nintendo also wants 40 percent of any advertising revenue these YouTube videos generate, it's the whitelisting of certain titles that many find just as bothersome. Super Smash Bros. on Wii U, an enormously popular game, is not on the list. Others have problems with video creators, some of whom may be criticizing a game for good or bad, being forced into what is effectively a compensation relationship with the publisher of those games.

Jim Sterling, the well known and outspoken video games critic, went full bore on Nintendo earlier this week. He mocked the program as the kind of thing people might expect of Electronic Arts, where even "a more universally loathed publisher" wouldn't assert that kind of control. You can view that below.