Now, see, this is why we can’t have nice things. Because other people want our nice things, and will try and take them from us or piggyback off of them. Smash Bros. pro ZeRo knows this first hand, and he hasn’t taken kindly to people using his Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Twitch footage.
Almost a month after the game’s launch, most Switch owners are probably intimately familiar with Smash Ultimate by now. Heck, many of them only became Switch owners in the first place because of Smash Ultimate. It’s the game of the moment, and has performed fantastically well right from day one.
But how are you performing as a player? That’s the key question. With those super-valuable Global Smash Ranking points and a place in the Elite Smash ranks at stake (not that this means too much, but it’s something), it’s no surprise that gamers are feverishly practicing their smashing. A great way to pick up some pointers, as always, is by watching the pros, but sadly, some of us don’t stop at just watching.
As Newsweek reports, Gonzalo Barrios (better known by his handle ZeRo) is a hugely popular streamer of Smash Ultimate. Lately, like many other successful Twitch broadcasters, he’s been noticing that unrelated YouTube channels have been re-uploading his content, in a shameless attempt to make their own money off of his success.
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Needless to say, ZeRo is less than amused by the whole situation, and has opted to address it head on. “There’s been a problem with people stealing my stream content for their own benefit,” he stated on Twitter, proving a longer statement within the Tweet itself than the platform’s meagre character limit allows.
“My stance on this is that it’s wrong,” the statement reads. “I think one thing is somebody uploading a match they recorded (themselves) where they played me online and added some commentary and edits… but basically just cutting a portion of my stream and calling it a day in terms of editing and then using that to make money off of my work, content and name [is] a very messed up thing to do.”
This is no knee-jerk reaction on the streamer’s part, either. ZeRo states that he has previously sent the owners of these channels several polite warning messages, but they have been ignored in some cases. As such, he’s doing something he has every right to do: request that these videos be taken down, “and then, if ignored or denied, [he] will have to look into strikes.”
Strikes on YouTube aren’t a threat to be taken lightly. It’s a three-strikes-and-you’re-out system, which means your account goes bye bye if you receive a third. The line has been drawn in the sand, then, and the message is clear: tread carefully with the work of streamers and content creators.