Atlus Has And Will Enforce Strict Streaming And Capture Guidelines For Persona 5

Persona 5 is out today, and if you were thinking of streaming the game or doing a Let’s Play of it right now, I have some bad news for you. Atlus has revealed that anyone who streams the game will face the consequences.

Over on Atlus’ official site, the company discussed their policy on both streaming as well as image sharing on the PlayStation 4, as well as what’s acceptable and what isn’t. “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*.’),” the publisher said. “You’re more than welcome to talk/show Confidants, the new combat, the Velvet Room, the dungeons, etc. Just please keep in mind that as a singular story playthrough, viewers are *highly* wary of spoilers!

In-game Content Limit: Please limit video content through 7/7.” For reference, 7/7 notes the in-game date, which is fairly early in the game, and not the actual date of July 7th. That would be nuts.

They also discussed a bit about the video content that you can upload as well, as well as what you can stream.

Video Content

• You can post however many additional videos you’d like, but please limit each to be at most 90 minutes long.
• No major story spoilers, and I’ll leave that up to your good judgment. If you need some guidelines, avoid showing/spoiling the ending segments of the first three palaces. While you can show initial interactions with Yusuke, avoid his awakening scene, and that whole deal about THE painting. Also, don’t post anything about a certain student investigator.
• I know I mentioned not showing the end of each palace, but you can grab footage from the Kamoshida boss fight. However, don’t capture video from the other major boss fights.
• Must not focus solely on cutscenes/animated scenes, should prominently feature dungeon crawling/spending time in Tokyo.
• You can post straight gameplay or have commentary.

Streaming Content

This being a Japanese title with a single-playthrough story means our masters in Japan are very wary about it. Sharing is currently blocked through the native PS4 UI. However, if you do plan on streaming, video guidelines above apply except length. 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.

On one hand, I get where Atlus is coming from, since Persona 5 is a game that emphasizes story, and streams and Let’s Plays would ruin that. On the other hand, streams and Let’s Plays are also free publicity, and even if you don’t see the whole thing, it’s enough to change people’s minds and possibly buy the game.

It’s certainly a slippery slope, and a discussion that is certainly worth having. But if you want to play the game yourself, you get Persona 5, which is out now on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.

SOURCE: Atlus