Microsoft has updated its Game Content Usage Rules, prohibiting any profits to be made off the distribution of video clips featuring their games.
What exactly does this mean? YouTube partners who publish videos featuring Halo games and another Microsoft-owned IP will no longer be able to gain money for doing so. This new prohibition only applies to games published by Microsoft Game studios, not every single Xbox 360 game.
Interestingly, Microsoft will still allow advertisements to appear alongside YouTube videos of their published games, but prohibits the YouTube partner from making any revenue off of those advertisements.
A handful of existing video series, such as the Major League Gaming (MLG) circuit and Red vs. Blue will not be affected by the new Usage Rules, due to pre-existing deals made with Microsoft.
Of course, this news is upsetting to those who ARE affected by this change, and a petition is already underway, with over 1000 signatures and counting (it's worth noting that said petition uses an incredibly misleading title and possibly misunderstands what the new usage rules actually mean. Hooray!).
This change comes less than a month before the release of Halo 4, easily Microsoft's biggest release of the year. Probably not too far out there to suggest that its impending launch informed this decision in some way.
[Source: GameSpot]
