Microsoft vs Machinima Controversy
Things really just heated up a notch with this whole controversy.
According to an IGN report, Microsoft has now commented on the promotion basically saying they did not come up with the contracts for Machinima partners, and that they want full disclosure to be made available on the videos.
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To those unsure of what I’m referring to, a lot of controversy has gone around regarding a leaked contract for a Machinima partner saying that they will earn extra CPM (ad revenue per 1000 views) for videos in which they talk about the Xbox One and do not say negative things about it.
This is considered an influencer program, and is not necessarily a new market practice. However, going about it in this way is not a good idea and has now angered many.
See TotalBiscuit’s video for a better explanation of the situation as a whole:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjObpd5U33U
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Both Microsoft and Machinima have given statements to IGN in response to their article posted on the manner. Machinima begins to claim that they came up with part of the contracts on their own as per their typical document creation, but Microsoft’s statement really seems to throw them under the bus and that they did not ask for any of the specific stipulations for the promotional videos.
Machinima’s statement to IGN:
“This partnership between Machinima and Microsoft was a typical marketing partnership to promote Xbox One in December. The Xbox team does not review any specific content or provide feedback on content. Any confidentiality provisions, terms or other guidelines are standard documents provided by Machinima. For clarity, confidentiality relates to the agreements themselves, not the existence of the promotion."
What this suggests is that the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place as well as basically any other guidelines for these contracts with their partners were created by Machinima. Machinima did specify though that this confidentiality is in reference to the agreement, not disclosure of the promotion itself. This honestly just sounds like ass-covering wordplay.
Microsoft’s statement to IGN:
"Microsoft was not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content providers as part of this promotion and we didn’t provide feedback on any of the videos. We have asked Machinima to not post any additional Xbox One content as part of this media buy and we have asked them to add disclaimers to the videos that were part of this program indicating they were part of paid advertising."
So Microsoft has now asked Machinima not to post anymore Xbox One videos following this program and to start adding paid advertising disclosures. Good move.
However, the important part is towards the beginning: “not aware of individual contracts Machinima had with their content producers as part of this promotion,” BINGO.
After stories arising every few months about various reasons a YouTuber should steer away from, or just not trust, Machinima, this story is certainly pushing a lot of opinions that way now.
It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds moving forward, but at the moment it seems Machinima has made some bad moves.
Really bad moves.