Independent video game developer Wild Games Studio reportedly abused YouTube's copyright system to take down a negative video review of their game Day One: Garry's Incident posted by user TotalBiscuit.
In a series of tweets, Total Biscuit addressed the issue.
"Well, cat is out of the bag since someone on Reddit found it. My Day One: Garrys Incident video was copyright flagged by the devs. I should point out that this is a game I was sent review code for, it was also the top-ranked video on Youtube for that game. It is fairly obvious what they are doing here, abusing Youtubes copyright system to censor criticism of their product.
I should point out that this is a game I was sent review code for, it was also the top-ranked video on Youtube for that game.
— TotalBOOscuit (@Totalbiscuit) October 20, 2013
"This happened 2 days ago, we contacted them for an explanation and have heard nothing. Giving them til Monday to respond before goin nuclear. It should be pointed out that US Fair Use doctrine exists in particular to protect criticism from being censored in such a way. It is a pro-consumer doctrine and with good reason. Maker and Polaris will come down on them like a ton of bricks come Monday."
While the video was taken down on YouTube due to "copyright claims," it was posted afterwards on the Daily Motion. Wild Games Studio issued a response on Steam's forum:
"We protected our copyright because Total Biscuit has no right to make advertising revenues with our license," a user named Stephane said on behalf of the developer.
It is definitely strange that the studio is claiming that TotalBiscuit is infringing the game's copyright since the company sent him a review code. If they are running after every blogger or website that is making advertising revenue over their content, Total Biscuit probably shouldn't be the only victim here. However, his video review was the only one that was reported to be taken down so far.
TotalBiscuit is expected to take legal action with the aid of a Maker Studios, a company that he is currently a working member of under a subsidiary called Polaris.
Day One: Garry's Incident was released on September 18th for Microsoft Windows.
