When the highly anticipated JRPG game Persona 5 released on PlayStation 4, developer Atlus put some restrictions in place that would make it difficult for streamers to spoil parts of the game's story. Other restrictions included not being able to record and stream major boss fights, post videos longer than 90 minutes. Streamers were also requested to not post or stream videos that focus solely on the game's cutscenes and spending time in the game's version of Tokyo. Failure to comply with these guidelines could result in your channel being restricted.
These restrictions were met with some backlash by other outlets like Forbes as well as from fans of the franchise. Fast forward to now, and Atlus has just released a statement announcing some changes to their streaming policy.
When Persona 5 launched, we put out a set of video/streaming guidelines that we hoped would limit online spoilers for fans who have yet to play the game.The major change here is that they're scrapping the restrictions that barred users from streaming or sharing any gameplay from 7/7 onwards. Instead, they are now asking people to not stream past 11/19 when the game is going into its final act.To our surprise, we then saw numerous reactive news articles go up, opinion videos post, and received many emails asking us to please change our Persona 5 streaming/video policy. We recognize that our fans are the reason why the game is the major worldwide success it is, and we continue to want them to be able to enjoy the game without fear of being spoiled. However, we also heard your issues with the guidelines and have decided to revise them. Because we want to give players the most access to the game while respecting the original goal, we’re now asking players to refrain from streaming or posting video past the end of the in-game date of 11/19—when the main story gears up for the final act.
Atlus also acknowledges concerns from the Persona 5 community, offering an apology to those who thought the restrictions were a bit over the top.
We also want to apologize to those of you who saw the previous guidelines blog post as threatening. We want to be transparent about what we do, and the reason we released the guidelines was to give streamers the right information up front. It was never our intention to threaten people with copyright strikes, but we clearly chose the wrong tone for how to communicate this.We have reached out to Atlus to clarify some points regarding the other restrictions and the sharing functionality. We will update this article if we learn more.
Update:
Atlus has told us that the sharing restrictions, via the share button, are still disabled. However, the time limit on videos of a maximum of 90 minutes, they are no longer asking people to adhere too.
Quick Take
While this might not be much of an improvement over the previous policy, it's at least a step in the right direction.What do you think of this news? Let us know in the comment section down below!
