Persona 5: Atlus threatens Twitch and YouTube streamers with bans if they post spoilers

Video game developer Atlus is warning Twitch and YouTube streamers not to spoil Persona 5 for other players or risk facing DMCA strikes against their channels.

The English version of the hotly anticipated Japanese RPG video game Persona 5 was finally released worldwide on Tuesday 4 April, and while the developer is proud that the game has now shipped 1.5 million copies, it has grave concerns about story spoilers.

"This being a Japanese title with a single-playthrough story means our masters in Japan are very wary about it. Simply put, we don't want the experience to be spoiled for people who haven't played the game," Atlus writes in a blog post.

"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. Please, PLEASE do not post any specific plot points or story spoilers, and only talk about the game in broad strokes."

Atlus has also warned streamers that they are not allowed to post video footage that goes past the in-game date of 7 July, or else. Gameplay footage must also be limited to 90 minutes long at the most, and streamers must not show all the animated cutscenes or the ending segments of the first three palaces, as well as any plot developments relating to the character Yusuke.

"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," the developer stresses.

Gaming community not impressed

Atlus' announcement has been met with mixed views by gamers and reviewers – some people understand that the developer doesn't want its hard work spoiled by Twitch, while others think that this new policy is a bit extreme, and indicative that internally the Japanese headquarters does not see eye-to-eye with its American counterpart on the matter.

"I can walk to my friend's house and watch him play the game. In fact, he can share the f***ing disk with me. Get with the times or get left behind. Nintendo gets absolutely shredded and rightfully so for some of their idiotic shit they've pulled on YouTube and twitch channels. Old farts on the board who don't understand technology making decisions ends up with stupid stuff like this," said Reddit user atriax.

Many people feel the proposed ban is absurd because the Japanese version of Persona 5 has already been out in Japan since September 2016, so anyone who is that keen to know the full plot will already have found out online long ago.

Also, a lot of people have pointed out that they have now had the game spoiled for them by reading the blog post about what streamers are not allowed to post, and that a lot of the fun with Persona 5 is that it's a great game to stream.