PopularOverwatchLeague YouTuber itsjieyang has been hit with two copyright strikes from Blizzard Entertainment, promptingOverwatchgame director Jeff Kaplan to step in. Itsjieyang’sOverwatchpatch videos are watched by thousands of people but the YouTuber had begun to post esports highlights fromOverwatchLeague season three.
On Twitter, itsjieyang posted a screenshot revealing details of a copyright strike that affected twoOverwatchLeague highlight videos on YouTube. The post said that the videos had been “removed by Blizzard” and that it would run out in May. It seemed that there wasn’t anything that itsjieyang could do to get the strikes removed and get the videos back up, until a post about the strikes on theOverwatchLeague Reddit blew up. This promptedOverwatchgame director Jeff Kaplan to step in.
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On Reddit, Kaplan thanked fans for “bringing this to our attention” and said that “we looked into this and apparently this was auto-actioned.” Kaplan also said that the issue had been fixed and revealed that theOverwatchteam is a “big” fan of itsjieyang’s videos. Itsjieyang thanked Kaplan but said that it was “weird” as the copyright strike said that it had been done manually.
Several fans have also suggested that Blizzard should hire itsjieyang to make videos for the company. Itsjieyang’sOverwatchLeague highlight videos could potentially make more people watch the streams and help YouTube to make back the rumored$160 million that it paid Blizzard for the exclusiveOverwatchLeague streaming rights.
If the highlight videos help people to become fans of anOverwatchLeague playerafter seeing how good they are this season, it could also make money through sales of team merch. Removing the videos only upsets fans and means fewer people get to seeOverwatchLeague plays.
Blizzard has been asked to hireOverwatchfans before. When an artist created a ThaiOverwatchhero and map, fans wanted them hired so that they could be put in the game. This also happened when one designer created a fullOverwatchmap for Rio. There are rumors that Rio will get a map for anOverwatch 2PvE missionbut nothing has been confirmed and it’s unclear if the designer has been hired.
Itsjieyang may not get a job out of this but fans on Reddit do seem to be very happy that the videos are back up and that Kaplan and the team know about issues like this. Blizzard had beencriticized for itsOverwatchLeague YouTube dealas fans wanted to know how theOverwatchLeague All-Access Pass and cheering with Bits features would work now that they aren’t on Twitch. Fans don’t have any information about that, but by removing a copyright strike from such a popularOverwatchLeague YouTuber, this is one less thing for them to be unhappy about.
Overwatchis out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
