Microsoft Institutes New Rules Against Popular Let’s Play Videos

Microsoft, whose pervasiveness knows no bounds, has decided it's high time to encroach upon the freedom of Let's Play content creators. These new rules and changes are also going to affect streamers and broadcasters, so you may want to pay attention if you fall under any of these categories. A new policy that Microsoft is introducing will offer content creators a "personal, non-exclusive, non-sublicenseable, non-transferable, revocable, limited license" to use content from their video games.

That sounds great, right? Well, read the fine print before you make any final judgment calls:

Except as described here, you can't sell or otherwise earn any compensation from your Item, including through advertisements in the Item. This means you can't charge money in exchange for your Item, post it on a site that requires subscription or other fees to view the Item, or post it on a page you use to sell other items or services (even if they have nothing to do with Game Content or Microsoft). You also can't use Game Content in an app that you sell in an app store.

It's stern, but fair.

However, the new policy also allows Microsoft to use any content created by streamers and such without permission. While Microsoft's own content should surely fall under their own jurisdiction, the voices/faces of streamers and Let's Play creators should not. This is one area of the new policy that I feel Microsoft may want to take a second look at, because by-and-large, the rest of it is far from outlandish.