YOUTUBE has long been praised for giving viewers independent opinions and information free from the influence of others.
In particular, many gamers flock to YouTube to hear the opinion of their favourite streamers on the latest upcoming games.
However, there has been a huge debate on social media after shocking information was revealed about how many gaming YouTube channels work.
Following the release of indie game Spiritea, the publisher took to Twitter to break down how the marketing of the game went.
The CEO Mike Rose wrote: “That’s just how this works now. YouTubers want you to pay them to cover your games.
“But I just don’t want to do that. It feels weird and icky and disingenuous, and I just can’t do it.
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“So I guess our games won’t get covered on YouTube anymore!”
YouTubers fought back against these statements on the website, claiming that developers should pay them to cover new games.
The reason for this is that YouTube has been reducing payout, making sponsorships the main revenue stream for many people on the platform.
While there are clearly marked sponsorships within videos and sponsored streams, this isn’t what the YouTubers were referring to.
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Instead, it is referring to videos where people play games and give their opinions as they go.
It is illegal to promote a product without disclosing a sponsorship, as money changing hands can influence someone’s opinion of the game.
However, the new information makes it clear that many YouTubers ask for money from the developers before making content that features their games.
There are hundreds of these videos on YouTube where the creator influences their audience without disclosing that they were paid to play the game.
What was most surprising is the overwhelming number of creators who admitted to doing this and apparently see no problem in asking for money for this content.
This seems to go against the idea that YouTubers are creating independent and unbiased content for their viewers.
If you want to read more about gaming, then check out the 80+ rated games leaving PS Plus in December.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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