Earlier this week, Atlus USA let it be known that there would beharsh penaltiesfor any YouTubers or streamers who spoiledPersona 5past a certain point, with the publisher even threatening to issue copyright takedown notices against specific accounts. That news has not gone over well with many in the JRPG’s community, and now, another game publisher is having a bit of fun at Atlus’s expense.
Devolver Digital, the publisher of games likeHotline MiamiandThe Talos Principle, decided to joke around about Atlus' streaming guidelines. As it happens, the company took to Twitter earlier this week to post some very tongue-in-cheek guidelines forPersona 5streamers.
“Spoil it real hard” is not usually something you see publishers encouraging content creators to do, but in this case, we feel like it’s a pretty good rule. Most of the responses to the tweet seem to agree, with multiple fans posting images and gifs both laughing at Devolver’s joke and using the space as another opportunity to make fun of Atlus USA’s rules forPersona 5.
To be fair, Atlus has a long history of being strict about what kind of content can be shown on streams and Let’s Plays. Atlus Japan in particular is known to issue seemingly random copyright notices on YouTube with games as recent asPersona 4:Dancing All Night. Atlus USA has a much more progressive track record in this area and has even helped YouTubers restore content after receiving a strike from Atlus Japan. All of that said,Persona 5is obviously a brand new game, so it’s at least somewhat understandable that the entirety of Atlus would want to keep spoilers under wraps at least for a little while.
Of course, the reason so many fans are annoyed by this policy is that streaming new games is quite common in 2017 and with theexception of maybe Nintendo, most other game developers have learned to use content creators within their marketing plans instead of turning them away. It’s unclear at this time if Atlus is actually going to follow through with its threats, but given the large amount of backlash this story has received, let’s hope the company reconsiders its options.
Persona 5is out now on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3.
