D&D (2024) D&D Player's Handbook Video Redactions & Takedowns

There's a lot of YouTube videos looking at the brand new Player's Handbook right now, and some of them include the YouTuber in question flipping through the new book on screen. A couple of those video creators have been asked by WotC to redact some of the content of their videos, with one finding that their video had been taken down entirely due to copyright claims from the company. It appears to be the folks who are flipping through the whole book on-screen who are running into this issue which, it seems, is based on piracy concerns.

Jorphdan posted on Twitter that "Despite fulfilling [WotC's] requests for the flip through video I was issues a copyright strike on my channel. Three strikes TERMINATES your channel. I don't think going over the 2024 PHB is worth losing my channel I've been working on since 2017. I'm pretty upset as none of this was said up front and when notified I did comply with their requirements. And I see other creators still have their videos up. Videos that are not unlike mine. Covering WotC is not worth losing my channel... Meanwhile please subscribe to my D&D free channel the Jocular Junction, where I'll most likely be making the majority of my TTRPG videos."

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Mike Shea, aka Sly Flourish, also posted a walkthrough of the Player's Handbook. While he didn't receive a copyright takedown action, after an email from WotC he has blurred out all the page images. "Note, I blurred out pictures of the book after Hasbro sent me an email saying they worried people would take screenshots of the book and build their own. Yes, it's complete b******t, but we must all do our part to ensure four billion dollar companies maximize shareholder value."

Popular YouTuber DnD Shorts had a video entitled 100% Walkthrough of the New Player's Handbook in D&D. That video is no longer available. However, his full spoilers review is still online.

 

[Theory of Games]

Really? I find that unbelievable. Like literally unbelievable.

You sure that it wasn't made by scanning one of the 3000 copies?

 

[Parmandur]

Really? I find that unbelievable. Like literally unbelievable.

You sure that it wasn't made by scanning one of the 3000 copies?

I haven't gone looking for the PDF, because I don't play that way, but I did see his video when he posted it: it was in high quality and he specifically showed every page. So it is actually quite plausible.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I can't believe people seriously think youtubers slowly posting the contents of a unpublished book online for their thousands of followers is okay and that WOTC should do nothing about it.

Quickly flipping through pages and commenting is fine.

But I think some people slowly posting book text-quality images of the whole book sent WOTC is overreaction mode. And people like SlyFlourish got caught in the crossfire.

I'm not sure that anyone thinks that the page-by-page flipthroughs were a good idea. I don't think anyone was surprised by those being taken down. But @SlyFlourish 's video? Others?

Those people getting "caught in the crossfire" was a big surprise. And the reasoning wasn't sound, nor was the methods. Even if the general idea makes sense, as many have stated, myself included.

 

[Retreater]

Yet, he took it down. People who understand business and how piracy impacts it know why.

Why even give review copies to video creators?
Why not stop any reviews of previous books?
Why suddenly change the rules?
Why have a knee jerk reaction and take down all reviews?
Why risk a PR nightmare before the biggest release in 10 years?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Rer
I saw the @SlyFlourish video. He did not show the entire book, not even close. It was an excellent, balanced review. It is exactly the type of video, WotC should be pleased with. @SlyFlourish did nothing wrong. Absolutely no way to predict WotC's bizarre reaction, especially considering 3000 physical copies entered the wild during GenCon.
The

Yet, he took it down. People who understand business and how piracy impacts it know why.

He took it down because WotC strong-armed him.

 

[Quickleaf]

Wow. Jorphdan strikes me as one of the thoughtful, empathic, fun and just generally decent folks in the RPG space. To strike his work in this way without communication, forewarning, or reasonable cause is just… I’m… Geez WotC. Just geez.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I haven't gone looking for the PDF, because I don't play that way, but I did see his video when he posted it: it was in high quality and he specifically showed every page. So it is actually quite plausible.

Okay. I had no idea that any videos like that existed. The only ones I saw had a few pages with hands in the way half the time. It makes perfect sense to go after THAT video. Still a shame to have others who played WotCs promotional game in good faith have their livelihood threatened over just doing what they were asked to do.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm not sure that anyone thinks that the page-by-page flipthroughs were a good idea. I don't think anyone was surprised by those being taken down. But @SlyFlourish 's video? Others?

Those people getting "caught in the crossfire" was a big surprise. And the reasoning wasn't sound, nor was the methods. Even if the general idea makes sense, as many have stated, myself included.

Wasn't a surprise to me.
But I worked in the corpo world for over a decade.
12 hours from now,I will have a list of phrase and words I can'tsay in front of non-employees when I am working.

From my knowledge, they didn't strike Sly Flourish.
But this is what happens when someone ruins it for everyone and money is involved.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Wasn't a surprise to me.
But I worked in the corpo world for over a decade.
12 hours from now,I will have a list of phrase and words I can'tsay in front of non-employees when I am working.

From my knowledge, they didn't strike Sly Flourish.
But this is what happens when someone ruins it for everyone and money is involved.

Did you miss the part of this thread where @SlyFlourish talked about how blindsided he was by their reaction after doing exactly as he was originally asked to do?

 

[Parmandur]

Okay. I had no idea that any videos like that existed. The only ones I saw had a few pages with hands in the way half the time. It makes perfect sense to go after THAT video. Still a shame to have others who played WotCs promotional game in good faith have their livelihood threatened over just doing what they were asked to do.

It seems the timeline was the PDF from D&D Shorts video hit the net on Friday, WotC reached out directly to creators with requests for revised standards in Saturday, and a law form started posting strikes today. So, a bit of panic at work, with different groups of people miscommunicating.