Sega Offers Half-Hearted Non-Apology For Massive Youtube Takedown; Promises Not To Do It Again (With Caveats)

from the it-wasn't-us,-it-was-the-'issue' dept

Remember last December when Sega was priming itself for a PSP Shining Force game and thought the best way to advertise the upcoming release was to take down anything and everything Shining Force-related on Youtube? Good times those, what with the takedowns and strikes against accounts and the hundreds of videos (some of which didn't even contain footage of the game) replaced with the well-known slash-mouthed emoticon and a quick "Sorry about that."



Now that the Shining Force game has been released, it appears that Sega is going to let things return to normal, or at least as normal as things can be after a massive takedown effort. Sega of America's Brand Manager offered the following apology diversionary statement of contrition half-hearted thanks and not-quite-promises.

Hey everyone,



Thank you to all of our fans for waiting while we worked hard to get this issue solved. While SEGA may need to remove videos in rare cases, we’re happy to confirm that there are no further plans to remove Shining Force videos uploaded to Youtube by users living in North American and European territories. Additionally, if you live in these territories and your video was removed, please get in touch with us at communityteam@sega.com so that we can look into it for you.



SEGA believes strongly in our fans and we apologize for any inconvenience. You all are what keep us going – thank you!

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

"Issue solved?" There was really nountil the massive takedown effort began. Before that, everything seemed to be running fine. "Solved?" Once again, the issue was Sega's own making. It hardly seems proper that it take credit for "solving" it.And bully for "no further plans to remove Shining Force videos." That's rather specific, innit? "We have no further plans FOR THIS PARTICULAR TITLE, but we reserve the right to remove other videos of other games, but in rare cases only, mostly because our release schedule isn't quite as packed as it was 15 years ago."This announcement was conveniently buried on the 28th page of the Sega forum post discussing the video takedowns. Not exactly shouting it from the rooftops, but I suppose whoever's manning the Sega email inbox is probably not in any hurry to be bombarded with demands SoA un-strike their Youtube accounts.All the damage done by Sega's short-sighted IP March to the Sea isn't going to be undone by a half-hearted non-apology that refers to Sega's own destructive actions as an "issue" to be "solved." Someone needs to inform those further up the chain of command that promoting a new game in an established series generally works better when you don't antagonize fans of the previous games. Not only that, but Sega needs to start seeing these uploaders as useful allies, rather than the only thing standing between it and a successful video game release.

Filed Under: takedowns, youtube

Companies: sega