John Green:

Nintendo’s announcement (and YouTube’s acquiescence) is a disaster. It hurts Nintendo, and it hurts the independent creators who through their Let’s Play videos create a unique and valuable experience of a game. 

I completely agree. Nintendo is being greedy, stupid, and shortsighted. Nintendo makes money by making great games and systems to play them. YouTube makes money by selling advertising and nurturing an environment where creators can share their creations.

Nintendo is, surprisingly, grabbing a small amount of money (relative to their earnings) and alienating countless customers.

YouTube is, unsurprisingly, being cowardly and not supporting the content creators who have made it worth billions. YouTube is, once again, on the wrong side of an issue with regard to its content creators.