Nintendo has decided to close the doors on their infamous Nintendo Creators Program that began in May 2015. By the end of December 2018, the program will shut down. The Nintendo Creators Program website will close later on March 20, 2019. Videos and livestreams featuring Nintendo games will be allowed to be monetized without Nintendo taking a cut of the profits.

New guidelines from Nintendo have also been published detailing what content can and cannot be monetized. These guidelines state that videos and channels may be monetized through the platform of choice if approved by Nintendo. These include YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and more.

Nintendo also directly encourages creative input and commentary. Videos of commentary-free gameplay are not permitted for monetization though. The new guidelines can be viewed in their entirety here.

In the Frequently Asked Questions section beneath the guidelines, one question asks if the guidelines apply to corporate entities. Nintendo states that these guidelines are only applicable to "individual consumers using Nintendo Game Content." It is unclear how this impacts or will apply to larger companies that have channels and monetize videos with Nintendo Game Content in them.

YouTube's Global Head of Gaming, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Ryan Wyatt took to Twitter to celebrate and share the news with his followers.

"The Nintendo Creators Program is coming to a close at the end of December. You may monetize your Nintendo videos on YouTube moving forward. Be sure to follow @Nintendo's guidelines below. What an amazing day for all Creators!!"

Originally designed as a way for content creators to upload videos without fear of losing all monetization, the Nintendo Creators Program allowed creators to split profits with Nintendo. It launched as a beta in May 2015 and creators had to apply to join so they could keep some of the profits their content created. The program has often been viewed negatively by YouTubers and others.