Roughly one year ago, Nintendo fans who posted "Let's Play" videos of the company's games learned that their uploads had been flagged and removed by YouTube's Content ID system. After those users complained, Nintendo responded by allowing those uploads to return—under the condition that they contain ads which would pay out to YouTube and Nintendo, not the uploader.

The story lost momentum over time, especially after its original complainant, Zack Scott, resumed his own posting of Nintendo-loaded Let's Play clips and confirmed that he "saw the revenue return." As part of an about-face announcement, Nintendo admitted today that it continued to claim revenue from many other streamers, but the company will soon launch an "affiliate program" to split any YouTube Let's Play ad cash.

A report from Polygon translated two Tuesday tweets from Nintendo's Japanese arm, which stated that the company has "proposed to place ads in YouTube channels using [Nintendo's] content" so long as Nintendo consents to the content. Any resulting ad revenue would be split between Nintendo, YouTube, and the uploader.

In a statement to Polygon, Nintendo of America confirmed the shift in Let's Play advertising attitude: "For those who wish to use [Nintendo's copyrighted] material more proactively, we are preparing an affiliate program in which a portion of the advertising profit is given to the creator." The statement did not clarify what was meant by "proactive" or "a portion," and it had no timeline attached.

Nintendo's announcement came while YouTube's own rumored deal with game-streaming hub Twitch.tv continues to percolate behind the scenes. We have reached out to Nintendo with questions about the affiliate program and will update this post if we receive a response.