Multiple streamers have informed their audience that they’ve received a 24-hour ban from Twitch due to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim from Microsoft. Twitch had to comply with the DMCA complaint, which was dealt in relation to streamers playing and broadcasting Halo Online’s ElDewrito fan project.
Youtuber It’sAGundam did a 10 minute video breaking down the entire event and the reactions from the community about both the shut down of ElDewrito and the DMCA claims that caused Twitch streamers to suffer through a 24-hour ban.
Various gamers have been tweeting and retweeting the controversy across social media, which was kickstarted by various Twitch streamers informing their audience why they would not be streaming throughout the remainder of the day.
Welp. Looks like I’ll be seeing you all in 24 hours. Microsoft ain’t happy about @ElDewritoTeam pic.twitter.com/5jfJnDiReq
— Scott Fisher (@Aplfisher) April 25, 2018
For those of you unable to read the message in the tweet, the Twitch team sent the following members to affected streamers…
“The content you streamed and archived on Twitch […] was the subject of a takedown notice we received from Microsoft Corporation pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). This organization has asserted that it owns this content and that you streamed that content on Twitch without permission to do so. As a result we have cleared the offending archives, highlights, and episodes from your account and given you a 24 hour restriction from broadcasting.”
E-sports consultant Rod Breslau also confirmed that additional Twitch streamers had been hit with DMCA notices and given broadcasting restrictions by Twitch.
Microsoft/343 now DMCA’ing streamers/youtubers for ElDewrito, the player-made Halo Online mod which was getting more viewers on Twitch than Halo 5. Complete nonsense. https://t.co/AngujjXCLX
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) April 25, 2018
As pointed out by Breslau, the Halo Online mod was getting more views than Halo 5. It’s obvious that the official products just aren’t entertaining or interesting enough for the gaming community, so Microsoft decided to prevent the unofficial services from gaining popularity in order to protect its own corporate branding.
This follows in line from 343 Industries recently making a public address, notifying the community that Microsoft will be taking legal action against those who continue to perpetrate distribution and facilitation of the ElDewrito mod.
Microsoft had the ElDewrito team shut down the project while they further discuss the possibilities of Halo being on PC.
At this point it’s quite obvious that Microsoft appears to be doing more to push gamers away than reel them in. Unless they have some huge announcements to make at E3, it’s likely that this anti-community move could only further tarnish their reputation in the gaming sphere.
If you want to see what the mod was actually like, you can see some real-time footage courtesy of LevelCapGaming.
(Thanks for the news tip Mark Kern)
