Earlier this month, Atlus warned streamers to not broadcast beyond an early point in the game, seemingly threatening content claims and strikes for anyone who defied their wishes. Today, Atlus is walking some of that back.
Recognizing that Persona’s popularity can be partially attributed to streamers, Atlus says it has reconsidered how it will approach Persona 5 broadcasts. Previously, Atlus prohibited people from streaming beyond the 7/7 in-game date, something that upset some hardcore fans. While it’s not a perfect solution, Atlus has decided to move that date back a few months:
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.
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.
Now if only we could use the PS4's built-in share button...alas, the world will not be able to see my embarrassing attempt to date every girl in Persona 5.