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Before we start: This article is intended to exist as a body of reference conveying a series of events. To the best of the writer’s ability, political opinions are withheld to focus on what exactly happened.
On Sunday, September 10th of this year, famous YouTube personality Pewdiepie recived a DMCA on his video featuring the game Firewatch.
Near or around this day, Pewdiepie was seen on a separate live stream calling an opponent, in a completely separate game, the “n-word”.
Almost immediately after uttering the racial slur he corrects himself and apologizes live, while continuing to play the match. Video game news outlets take almost immediate notice and report on this.
While there is no direct connection yet stated between Pewdiepie saying the “n-word” and a DMCA being filed, the timing appears suspicious and most bystanders believe the two events are somehow connected to each other.
On Twitter we saw Sean Vanaman, co-founder of Camp Santo, make a series of tweets beginning with a confirmation that the DMCA is legitimate:
We’re filing a DMCA takedown of PewDiePie’s Firewatch content and any future Campo Santo games. […]
He then implies that this decision was made very recently:
There is a bit of leeway you have to have with the internet when u wake up every day and make video games. There’s also a breaking point. […]
… and that he believes other developers should “do something”:
I’d urge other developers & will be reaching out to folks much larger than us to cut him off from the content that has made him a milionaire […]
These statements further add to the theory that the DMCA is directly tied to events some hours before on Pewdiepie’s live stream.
It’s worth reiterating there is no direct, clear reference to why the DMCA was filed now and not sooner.
On Camp Santo’s website, (as of September 10th), they state an openness and invitation to let’s players and streamers to show case their game Firewatch.
Attorney and YouTuber, Leonard French, made a video later that day reviewing the situation from a legal standpoint.
With a focus in copyright law, Leonard suggests that Camp Santo may have given express license to video creators with the statements made on their website, which might complicate their position in a legal setting.
This is all we know for certain right now and the rest is either in the realm of theory, opinion or assumption. We’ll keep you guys posted and will update this article as more information arises.
