Atlus Is Letting People Stream More, But Not All, ‘Persona 5’

It’s not unusual for Japanese game companies to have more onerous restrictions when it comes to streaming and monetizing videos, but Persona 5 was its own beast, with Atlus warning players of content ID claims and account suspensions if they played past a certain point. It was unusually hostile for a fan-friendly company. Atlus has since softened that stance, allowing folks to stream further into the game. You still have to stop before the game is over, though.

“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,” said the company in a blog post. “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.”

(I don’t mean to belabor the point, but why would someone be watching a YouTube video or Twitch stream if they weren’t ready to be spoiled??)

You can now stream and post videos until the in-game date of 11/19, which Atlus refers to as the point before the game’s final act moves kicks up. It’s currently unclear if Atlus will ever lift any and all restrictions related to the game. There’s no indication that will happen. The best we can hope for is that Atlus will, at some point, simply look the other way. (Atlus is not known for that, however.)

The developer has apologized for coming across as “threatening.” It previously seemed like it was ready and willing to wreck Twitch and YouTube accounts.

“We want to be transparent about what we do,” continued the post, “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.”

It’s something, I guess.

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