Ubisoft ‘working ASAP’ to resolve YouTubers being hit with 90-day streaming strike

Ubisoft is working to help a number of YouTubers who were hit with 90-day streaming strikes after livestreaming the publisher’s press conference this week.

A tweet from Ubisoft’s account said the 90-day livestreaming bans and alleged copyright claims that creators faced were an accident, adding that it was working with YouTube to rectify the situation.

Livestreaming an event like a major press conference on YouTube is pretty common and creators generally don’t have to worry about dings on their channels, as both publishers and YouTube turn a blind eye to such streams. That’s not what happened with Ubisoft. Creators were reportedly hit with copyright strikes and 90-day livestreaming bans following the conference.

There are a number of reasons why this may have happened, but copyright claims are the most likely. All of the footage shown in Ubisoft’s press conference belongs to the publisher, and its partners. It’s possible that YouTube’s algorithms — running in the background, looking for copyright IDs to claim — spotted the Ubisoft tag and started striking down videos. The video company has not made a statement regarding the incident.

YouTube’s community guidelines regarding streaming specifically state that a creator’s “live streaming ability will be automatically disabled” for actions such as “your live stream or archived live stream receives a copyright takedown,” or “your live stream matches another copyrighted live broadcast.”

Traditionally, livestreaming a publisher’s E3 stream on your own channel isn’t a big deal, which is why this caught so many people off-guard. Especially when compared to Twitch — a platform that has helped bolster E3 viewings my allowing streamers to co-host any stream they want without fear of reprisal. It’s why top Twich steamer Shroud’s stream of a conference does infinitely better than an official publisher’s stream, even though it’s the exact same content.

The reported strikes and community bans come at a particularly troublesome time for YouTube and creators who are fighting a never-ending war over demonetization. This is especially true in the gaming sphere where many creators feel like they can’t publish Let’s Plays of certain publisher’s games — like Nintendo’s — without receiving copyright claims and losing any profit from that video.

YouTube hasn’t responded to creators’ concerns over the 90-day ban and alleged strikes, but Ubisoft says it’s working to correct the issue. Some creators did notice the ban was lifted at the time of this publishing, while other creators were waiting to see action taken.