Popular Pokémon Nature Documentary Creator Announces Channel Closure Amid Nintendo Copyright Issues

Elious, the mind behind the beloved Pokémon nature documentary series, has announced that his YouTube channel is facing deletion in just seven days due to a wave of copyright strikes from Nintendo of America.

In a video shared on an alternate channel, Elious revealed that Nintendo issued multiple strikes against large groups of his videos within a mere 12-hour window. At the time of his announcement, 20 of his videos had been affected by four separate copyright claims, which collectively threaten the entire channel. With YouTube’s three-strike policy in play, this puts his channel on the brink of deletion.

The copyright claims allege that Elious is improperly using “content from Pokémon video games, including audiovisual works, characters, and imagery.” His videos feature original 3D animations of various Pokémon in their natural habitats, narrated in a style reminiscent of David Attenborough, sharing interesting facts about Pokémon like Magikarp, Squirtle, Magnemite, Snom, Mew, Charizard, and others. He has been creating this content since 2023 without any prior issues, stating that the only direct content taken from the games consists of brief “tiny sprite roars” lasting under three seconds. He points out that many other Pokémon creators and AI-generated channels use game footage or images without facing similar repercussions.

Interestingly, Elious launched a Patreon just two months ago to allow fans to support his work financially, but that page is currently “under review.”

Elious expressed that he would be willing to remove all Pokémon-related videos if requested by Nintendo, but he hopes to retain his nearly 100,000 subscribers to continue producing content on other topics, as he has done in the past.

“I can’t really fight this,” Elious stated. “It all seems legitimate, and it does appear to come from the actual Nintendo of America. I don’t know what to do because it will erase everything. I’m downloading everything, of course; I have all the videos saved. But I won’t be able to post them again or use this channel. Almost 100,000 subscribers over three years of creating these animations, and it’s all going to be gone in seven days.”

Elious plans to keep making videos on his new channel, EliousEntertainmentYT, though they won’t focus on Pokémon. Some clips from his videos are still available on his TikTok page.

“PokéNational is dead. I won’t be able to make PokéNational again.”