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Nick "Nickmercs" Kolcheff tweeted that he would be deleting all of his content on Twitch after getting hit with a DMCA claim on his channel.
Most of the big named streamers on Twitch have deleted all of their clips and VODs in the wake of the DMCA emails from Twitch. Nickmercs was one of the very few who were not deleting their VODs, and as of last night, that plan failed as well.
In his tweet he said, "Got smacked with the ole DMCA today. Can’t say I’m surprised, lowkey was askin’ for it." Like almost every other streamer on Twitch, Nickmercs will be deleting all of his VODs and clips in order to comply with DMCA. Otherwise, it is very likely his channel would earn enough strikes for an instant permanent ban.
Nickmercs tested the legitimacy of the DMCA strikes
In a clip that was brought to light by Esports Talk about a week ago, Nickmercs and Timothy "TimTheTatman" Betar argued over whether or not he needed to delete all of his clips and VODs. Like other major streamers, such as Benjamin "DrLupo" Lupo, TimTheTatman deleted all of his VODs as soon as possible in order to comply to DMCA and keep his channel safe. Nickmercs claimed he was going to text TimTheTatman that he shouldn't delete and that he had insider information, but Tim had already deleted all of his content.
Of course, TimTheTatman was curious about the information, but he insisted that there was no scenario where Nickmercs was safe from DMCA. To end their discussion on DMCA, Nickmercs told Tim, "I went to a different classroom and I heard some interesting stuff. That's It."
It's clear that many streamers didn't understand the gravity of the DMCA situation, and Nickmercs was the poster child of streamers who were refusing to delete all of their VODs and clips. The streaming community had been watching Nickmercs closely for the past week, as more and more streamers received DMCA notifications, including Rocket League professional player Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda.
Despite all of the DMCA strikes coming down on streamers, it seems that Twitch is giving everyone a chance to comply. The general rule is three DMCA strikes and the channel is permanently banned. Supposedly, each individual song that is DMCA worthy can receive a separate strike, which is easy to reach with years of hours long VODs. Most streamers who have been banned from DMCA, including SquishyMuffinz, have been quickly unbanned in order to delete their content.
This likely isn't the end of the DMCA situation, but Nickmercs finally folding is a major sign of the seriousness in which this should be taken.
