In the lead-up to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has begun cracking down on streamers sharing content of the game, with Sony Santa Monica writer Alanah Pearce revealing she was given a Twitch ban “midstream” for simply reacting to an approved Tears of the Kingdom preview.
When it comes to their products, Nintendo is notorious for taking down audio and footage online that shows off or includes anything from Mario, Pokemon, and Zelda.
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just days away from release, Nintendo is now being extra cautious about avoiding spoilers for the game.
Content creator Alanah Pearce, who works at Santa Monica Studios as a writer and also streams on Twitch in the evenings, revealed that she was banned from the platform mid-stream when simply reacting to another content creator’s video that includes footage for Tears of the Kingdom.
It would appear that Nintendo DMCA'd me for watching approved Zelda gameplay lmao
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) May 9, 2023
“My Twitch just got suspended mid-stream because I was reacting to SkillUp’s Zelda preview video…It would appear that Nintendo DMCA’d me for watching approved Zelda gameplay lmao.”
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Alanah Pearce gets banned on Twitch by Nintendo then promptly unbanned
She then posted a second tweet confirming that it was Nintendo who had issued the ban through a copyright claim. However, it has now been revealed that Pearce’s account has been unbanned after just an hour. It appears her appeal was almost immediately successful in this case.
Back in June 2021, Dexerto reported how Twitch decided to cancel their airing of a Nintendo Direct showcase on their Gaming channel because Nintendo revealed they would not be allowing other content creators to co-stream it.
More recently, we also reported how streamer PointCrow pleaded with Nintendo to reconsider reversing their decision after he was hit with several copyright strikes from the company on his YouTube channel.
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom set to release on May 12, Nintendo is likely hard at work as they crack down on streamers and content creators sharing and using footage and audience from the game before it hits store shelves. In this case, however, perhaps they were a little too cautious.