Atlus Apologizes, Loosens Streaming Restrictions for 'Persona 5'

After receiving backlash for putting what many have perceived as overbearing streaming restrictions on Persona 5, Atlus has loosened up the restrictions considerably, as detailed in a new post on its official site.

Now, users can stream much later into the game — to in-game date November 19 “when the main story gears up for the final act.” While Atlus’ original intention was to prevent fans from seeing spoilers online, it acknowledged that it misstepped in both breadth of the restrictions and tonally. The new guidelines, which are phrased as more of an ask than a demand, will still help to preserve the integrity of the game’s most pivotal story moments.

At launch, Atlus originally dictated that players should not post or stream any video content past the in-game date of July 7, rather early in the game. Additionally, users were told not to post videos exceeding 90 minutes.

The guidelines were actually similar to the rules sent out to reviewers who received the game early. The strange part was that the guidelines weren’t in line with what is generally imposed on everyday consumers.

“Simply put, we don’t want the experience to be spoiled for people who haven’t played the game,” the post said. “Our fans have waited years for the game to come out and we really want to make sure they can experience it fully as a totally new adventure.”

The guidelines requested that players not reveal plot spoilers or details about the endings to the game’s dungeons. To see just how similar these rules are to the ones imposed on reviewers, check out the below two excerpts. The first is from Atlus’ public post:

Please, PLEASE do not post any specific plot points or story spoilers, and only talk about the game in broad strokes. (Good example: “The game deals with dark themes right off the bat, with a lecherous teacher and other corrupted individuals.” Bad example: “Players immediately run into trouble with the pervy teacher *spoiler*, whose actions go so far as to cause *spoiler*.”)

And this one is from the reviewer guidelines (redactions by us so as to avoid spoilers):

Please PLEASE do not post any specific plot points or story spoilers, and only talk about the game in broad strokes (Good example: “The game deals with dark themes right off the bat, with a lecherous teacher and other corrupted individuals.” Bad example: “Players immediately run into trouble with the pervy teacher [redacted], whose actions go so far as to cause [redacted]”).

Lastly, it issued a warning to streamers: “If you decide to stream past 7/7 (I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT DOING THIS, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED), you do so at the risk of being issued a content ID claim or worse, a channel strike/account suspension.”

Although it’s great that Atlus has walked back its original stance, there’s still the matter of the PS4’s “share” button being disabled throughout sizable chunks of the game. It’s unclear if that will be addressed in a future update.

Updated on 04-27-2017 by Steven Petite: Added revised streaming policy

Atlus apologizes, loosens streaming restrictions for ‘Persona 5’

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