While few could fault Nintendo for sticking by their tried and true line of thinking for the past few decades, it appears the company's recent economic struggles have forced a change. Now, the company is exploring options it had never considered before, like licensing its IPs to other companies and pursuing potential partnerships in the health space.

Just recently, Nintendo further reaffirmed their desire to change with the announcement of a new affiliate program for video makers. This program will allow the Let's Play-ers and YouTubers of the world to make profit off videos featuring Nintendo products.

Most will remember that it was only a year ago that Nintendo issued a stern warning to video makers in the form of a Content ID copyright smackdown. Any who were previously profiting off Nintendo gameplay videos found that their revenue stream was halted and their videos were removed.

After some strong urging by the gamer community, however, Nintendo decided to change their line of thinking, and allowed the videos to return. There was one caveat to the new approach, however, in that it would be Nintendo and Google (owners of YouTube) who split the ad revenue. And Google, in turn, would presumably share some of that revenue with the video creator.

Now, it appears Nintendo is ready to take a more direct approach, as evidenced this new affiliate program. Details are still fairly slim at the moment, but in essence the program will allow video makers to split revenue with Nintendo.

"Nintendo has been permitting the use of Nintendo copyrighted material in videos on YouTube under appropriate circumstances. Advertisements may accompany those videos, and in keeping with previous policy that revenue is shared between YouTube and Nintendo. In addition, for those who wish to use the material more proactively, we are preparing an affiliate program in which a portion of the advertising profit is given to the creator. Details about this affiliate program will be announced in the future."

Although Nintendo didn't have too many details (if at all) to share about their upcoming affiliate program, it's pretty clear this move is meant to increase the company's profile among gamers. Let's Play videos have become a huge source of marketing for publishers and developers, especially in the indie space, to the point that many companies send copies of their games to these content creators like they would an outlet for review. And even if some viewers doubt the impartial nature of the videos, they can still and judge the live footage, which sometimes surfaces before the game releases.

Clearly, Nintendo is being much more proactive with regards to improving their financial standing, even going so far as completely changing their stance on certain policies like video monetization. We'll see what else they have in store for gamers at E3 2014.

Do you think this affiliate program is a smart move on Nintendo's part? How do you feel about the Let's Play community?

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Source: Nintendo (via Polygon)

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