Ludwig, one of the world’s most popular streamers, has taken to the airwaves to reveal that he was essentially sued by Nintendo some months ago. He’s kept the news quiet until now but recently uploaded a video explaining how Nintendo sent him a ‘Notice of Infringement of Intellectual Property’ following his hosting of a Smash tournament earlier this year. During this tournament, Ludwig showcased a modified version of Super Smash Bros. that players had ‘transformed’.

That was enough to kick Nintendo into action. They reached out to Ludwig with what he referred to as a cease and desist notice, requesting that he not broadcast the modified game and, instead, that he kept it ‘vanilla’ – which he then did. For some viewers, it was a petty move by Nintendo, and it prompted Ludwig – and others – to trawl through Nintendo’s tournament guidelines and identify a few other areas of contention.

But it didn’t end there.

New Rules For Everybody

In an unrelated update, Nintendo recently published new rules for content creators focusing on their games and content. It was a sizeable list of new terms and guidelines that content creators must abide by, and any flouting of these rules will muster the wrath of Nintendo in earnest. In a post, Nintendo’s representatives stressed that they’re ‘humbled’ by the fans’ love and passion for its games, and then promptly delivered some strict guidelines for them to follow.

Confusing sentiments.

Related: Nintendo Publishes New Tournament Rules For Smash

It’s worth stressing that the document containing some of these guidelines first aired way back in 2018, but it was just days ago that Nintendo published a fresh edit of the list.

Here’s the new list of rules:

You may monetize your videos and channels using the monetization methods separately specified by Nintendo. Other forms of monetization of our intellectual property for commercial purposes are not permitted.
We encourage you to create videos that include your creative input and commentary. Videos and images that contain mere copies of Nintendo Game Content without creative input or commentary are not permitted. You may, however, post gameplay videos and screenshots using Nintendo system features, such as the Capture Button on Nintendo Switch, without additional input or commentary.
You are only permitted to use Nintendo Game Content that is generated after the game has been officially released, or if it is from promotional materials officially released by Nintendo (such as product trailers or Nintendo Directs).
If you want to use the intellectual property of a third party, you are responsible for obtaining any necessary third-party permissions.
You are not permitted to imply or state that your videos are officially affiliated with or sponsored by Nintendo.
We reserve the right to object to any content that we believe is unlawful, infringing, inappropriate, or not in line with these Guidelines.

It’s a strict list, that’s for sure — and there are ramifications in store for content creators not following Nintendo’s image and video-related rules. The long and short of it is, if you want to make Nintendo content, you’ve got to toe the line. You’re not allowed to upload content that isn’t ‘creative’, you cannot use any leaked or early access footage, and ultimately, Nintendo has the final word on what it allows to be uploaded and shared.

Is that a step too far?

Stay tuned to Esports.net for more Smash news