In 2012 Sega, a longtime video game publisher and developer based in Japan, issued Copyright Strikes against Youtubers with content surrounding the Shining Force video game franchise. Videos being hit by these claims included gameplay, review, and even commentary-only content. Speculators presumed it was Sega attempting a revival of the series, after fans in the community had tried to convince Sega to bring it closure. Further investigation, however, led to the discovery of a single Sega employee’s channel being the one to issue the Strikes. Initially, this had put into question the intent behind the Strikes. However, not everyone was convinced that this meant the Shining Force Strike controversy was the work and will of a single employee. The official consensus is that Sega was preparing to market a new Shining game, and they wanted all Shining Force searches to go to their their office website, then to a fan page talking about their old games. Ultimately, Sega had tried to control the flow of information and the actions of others to promote a yet unannounced new product, ironically at the cost of their own customer fanbase they were selling to.
This event puts to light the kinds of exploitation Copyright Holders are capable of within Youtube’s system. When videos of Shining Force began to disappear from Youtube, not only were issues of Fair Use put into question, but also the legality of taking down videos which lacked any of the actual copyrighted content in question. Vlogs, or video blogs, are a genre of video meant to be an in-person, recorded discussion of various topics for recreational or critiquing purposes. This includes people talking about Shining Force, either exclusively or passively, without the use of footage, and therefore, without any copyrighted content in the video. Youtuber AlphaOmegaSin, a vlogger who focuses on news surrounding the video game community, was one of the more well known vlogger targets, “I have had two videos taken down of me just talking about the Shining series. They were the two most watched videos on the series.” The act of just discussing Shining Force was being treated just as illegal as the full pirating of the game itself. “Sega Japan is taking down videos that don’t show gameplay at all, they take down videos of anyone reviewing the game without showing game play. It’s unethical and illegal.” (AlphaOmegaSin). This meant that Freedom of Speech was being attacked on the grounds of Copyright Infringement. This would be considered a mute point in any other legal circumstance. Sega blatantly disregarded the law in order to direct the flow of traffic to its servers and enforce control over the actions of the User by eliminating competition for their product.
The irony is that, although this was presumably an attempt to gain traffic for its upcoming game and raise awareness for the fans, the fans were the most hurt by the ordeal. Shining Force was a decades old franchise. Without a new game in years, fans of the series were the majority of people putting videos onto Youtube in the first place. Under Youtube’s current system, being given so many Copyright Strikes caused these channels to be taken down, often permanently. Their biggest fans were having their hard work, their livelihoods, and their legacy as fans torn away from them without warning or remorse from the company that presumably did so out of appreciation for their continued support. Fan pages and other expressions of loyalty were damaged by these actions, and ultimately, Sega’s reputation as a company, both for fans and for users of Youtube in general, was forever marred by their inability to recognize the value of what they so willingly disposed of for what amounts to an ad campaign for a game that would never come to pass.
Sources:
TotalBiscuit, The Cynical Brit. “Content Patch December 10th, 2012 Ep. 020.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 10 Dec 2012. Web. Sun. 21 February 2016.
synbios16.“Shining Story, SEGA vs. Internet.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 9 Dec 2012. Web. Sun. 21 February 2016.
AlphaOmegaSin.“SEGA Flagging Shining Force Videos and Getting Youtube Accounts Banned (Fans Rage).” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 4 Dec 2012. Web. Sun. 21 February 2016.
What Do Media & Communication Studies Teach Us? 