Contrary to what a few people have said in this thread, this actually isn't Nintendo's right. As far as I understand copyright law, fair use is a real thing that absolutely applies here; LPers are not in fact selling their game or product, but displaying it in a way where the product itself cannot actually be played by their viewers. This is the same kind of thing that gaming news sites or guide websites do, and they make revenue off it in the same way. There is nothing wrong with people publishing and making money off video of Nintendo's games, because they are not distributing the game itself or making money solely off the copyrighted material but actually off material that is sufficiently different from it even if it's derivative, and Nintendo does not in fact have the right to stop them from doing so.
However, YouTube does.
Let's not forget that YouTube isn't a publicly owned publishing venue. It is a private company. They can do whatever they damn well please with anything published on their service; you have no rights regarding use of the service or what you're allowed to put on the service, because that service does not belong to you.
The fact of the matter is that this is not actually people getting prosecuted or targeted by Nintendo, but YouTube being targeted and them complying with Nintendo. And it makes sense, frankly. YouTube doesn't have much if anything to gain from protecting YouTube users who publish content that falls under fair use when they can instead make revenue off non-problem videos, or at least comply with the original copyright holders and keep the content on and make money off it while avoiding any legal disputes. Just because they could win the dispute -- and they probably could -- doesn't mean it makes sense for them to.
Bottom line is if LPers really want to make money off it without this happening, then they need to find a different venue where they can represent themselves without relying on YouTube to do it, because YouTube is no charity and will absolutely -- and rightly -- do what's best for their interests.
However, YouTube does.
Let's not forget that YouTube isn't a publicly owned publishing venue. It is a private company. They can do whatever they damn well please with anything published on their service; you have no rights regarding use of the service or what you're allowed to put on the service, because that service does not belong to you.
The fact of the matter is that this is not actually people getting prosecuted or targeted by Nintendo, but YouTube being targeted and them complying with Nintendo. And it makes sense, frankly. YouTube doesn't have much if anything to gain from protecting YouTube users who publish content that falls under fair use when they can instead make revenue off non-problem videos, or at least comply with the original copyright holders and keep the content on and make money off it while avoiding any legal disputes. Just because they could win the dispute -- and they probably could -- doesn't mean it makes sense for them to.
Bottom line is if LPers really want to make money off it without this happening, then they need to find a different venue where they can represent themselves without relying on YouTube to do it, because YouTube is no charity and will absolutely -- and rightly -- do what's best for their interests.