Popular Borderlands YouTuber Matt “SupMatto” Somers has had a rough time of it since he shared some publicly available information about the upcoming Borderlands 3 on YouTube. Now, the YouTuber’s channel has disappeared completely.
In late July, Take-Two Interactive posted a trailer for an upcoming Twitch extension called ECHOCast that will release alongside Borderlands 3. The trailer, which is still live and unchanged, features a screenshot from an actual Twitch account that the company used to test the feature. That account had followers from other test accounts, and those test accounts, while private, had publicly available screen captures that showed yet unannounced portions of Borderlands 3.
Many social media users picked up on this and began sharing the information. SupMatto noticed, and dug a little deeper in order to make some videos about the unannounced features in Borderlands 3. After the videos went up, Take-Two started slamming SupMatto with DMCA Takedown notices which implied that the videos revealed copyrighted content. Take Two then sent two private investigators to SupMatto’s house to find out more information about what the YouTuber knew.
Fans of SupMatto did not appreciate this reaction from Take-Two, and this lead the hashtag #BoycottBorderlands3 to begin trending on social media. In the wake of the controversy, the streamer, feeling discouraged, decided to step away voluntarily, saying that he would take a break from YouTube and social media until September. At the time, his YouTube channel remained active.
Now, that has changed. As of this morning, SupMatto’s channel has disappeared from YouTube without an official word on what happened. Folks speculate that Take-Two sent enough takedown notices to get the channel removed, but no one knows for sure. It may be a while before SupMatto, who is still on his break, makes any statements about the issue.
After the incident, Take-Two released a statement about its actions in which they defended their right to protect its “trade secrets.” The statement claims that the company already had an ongoing 10-month investigation of the YouTuber and that its actions relate more directly to that than to the Twitch leaks. According to Eurogamer, Take Two says SupMatto had leveraged his YouTube subscriber base to build a Discord where fans with inside information could share it for SupMatto to publicize.
Fans don’t buy it. They claim that Take-Two’s actions show a company trying to redirect the blame for damage that they brought upon themselves by leaving information in the video. Now that the channel has disappeared, fans of SupMatto have brought the #BoycottBorderlands3 hashtag back to offer support.
Borderlands 3 launches on September 13 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.
Source: Eurogamer
