In an impromptu video on Twitch earlier today, Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez revealed that his company Cross Counter TV received a cease and desist order from Capcom last 2012 over content that they were making in connection to Capcom's fighting games. In the same video, Gootecks explained the reasons he has to cancel long running show Excellent Adventures.
The impetus for the video was the continuing demand from fans for Excellent Adventures, a three year show that showcased top players in the fighting game community playing with each other and looking for matches online. Excellent Adventures was one of the most popular fighting game related shows on the web, and Gootecks and the people at Cross Counter, based on their own skills, as well as their connections with other top players, where uniquely positioned where they were the only entity able to deliver this show.
He received the cease and desist from Capcom last March 9, 2012, from Capcom's Lead Legal Counsel Laura Franco. Basically, the letter explains that Capcom found out about the different Cross Counter TV videos in their store featuring their games, and that Cross Counter were guilty of copyright infringement.
As Gootecks himself confirms, they did make several videos featuring Capcom games and put them up for sale. This includes footage from tournaments and instructional videos. One particular highlight was their Akuma instructional video for Street Fighter IV, called the Tokido Formula. Then the top player in SF IV, Tokido shared his strategies and secrets using Akuma, with the help of fellow player and translator fubarduck. This particular video became so popular that it got featured in Kotaku, and thanks to this that Capcom in Japan first learned about this content.
Gootecks explains part of the reason for the cease and desist was that Capcom had a preexisting contract with Prima/Brady Games to make game guides. Cross Counter TV's content put them in a position where Prima could sue them for violating the terms of their contract.
Gootecks took the cease and desist personally, and unfortunately, it led to problems running Cross Counter TV itself. He did confirm that he was able to eventually negotiate with Capcom to drop further legal issues, but as a result of this, and other problems managing the company, he has made the call not to continue Excellent Adventures.
I won't get into the more personal details of Gootecks' video and hope he does well with the company moving forward.
Even if you're not into fighting games, this revelation is important to everyone in the gaming community. Whereas many game companies like Riot Games and Warner, that are actively sponsoring the competitive gaming scene for their games, there are some other companies, like Nintendo and Capcom, that don't or can't seem to do so.
I think it's unfortunate that it went down to a preexisting agreement to force Capcom to clamp down work by one of their own fans. We have gone through this with Nintendo twice already, with their Let's Play policies, which they have quietly discarded, and the similarly abandoned attempt to ban Smash Bros on the EVO stream.
The knee jerk reaction is to hate on these companies, but whereas people can easily attack Nintendo for their lack of engagement, Capcom has been actively supporting the fighting community. and in fact sponsored EVO for this year. This isn't reducible to 'Capcom hates the fans' or they don't understand what the fans want. These companies need to change the legal aspects of their business, as fans' needs evolve and they should work to support and not constrain them.
You can watch the whole video below.
