SEGA’s Video Game Content Sharing Restrictions Are a Cryptic Sign That Streaming and Video Limitations Might Become a Trend
There has been quite a stir amongst the streaming community concerning Atlus’s video game content sharing restrictions for Persona 5. After the release of Persona 5 in the West, Atlus promptly made a public warning about sharing spoilers, threatening streamers who broadcast videos that take place too far into the game with content ID claims, channel strikes, and account suspensions. They even went so far as to make restrictions on what videos and streams can and cannot contain, picking out certain cut scenes, palace fights, and awakenings that just can’t be shown or talked about without risking the integrity of their video hosting account. As disheartening as this may be to those eager to show off the JRPG’s gameplay to their audiences, streamers, and content creators might be facing an onslaught of companies that prefer this limited sharing model over the free-for-all content creation that they allowed in the past.
Atlus is a subsidiary of SEGA, who recently announced their streaming and content sharing restrictions for a much more trivial game, Puyo Puyo Tetris. A long list of rules and guidelines were posted to SEGA’s Japanese website, which included warnings about using anything involving the game to gain a profit, posting gameplay on any platform other than a non-profit blog, homepage, or Twitter, and threatened those who violate these rules with more than just account strikes and suspensions, they’ll be holding streamers and content creators liable for damages incurred.
So, basically, if you decide to break these rules, SEGA is telling you that they’re not afraid to sue you.
If you’ve been following the news surrounding SEGA’s prized blue hedgehog, you probably know that both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces will be making their way to gaming platforms this year. If SEGA maintains their content restriction business model, you can bet that you won’t be able to share your gameplay from either Sonic game and, in the case that they do allow the games to be shared over streaming and video sharing platforms, they’ll come with some brutally heavy restrictions and guidelines.
While some streamers might have gotten their feathers in a bunch over Persona 5’s content limitations, it might get much worse for those who make a living off of making gameplay videos, tutorials, commentary, and the like. In the Puyo Puyo Tetris post, SEGA explicitly stated that if someone makes money off of their content in any way, shape, or form, even indirectly, it’s breaking the rules.
For a full-time streamer, this could be a very dark trend. If you make a profit off of your Twitch or YouTube channels, even through subscriptions or donations, not only will SEGA remove the videos you share, but they also retain the right to seek damage retribution. If major gaming companies choose to follow suit, this could make streaming as a job a fruitless, and even legally damaging endeavor.
Will this become a trend among Japanese distributors, and could the business model leak over to the West? SEGA seems determined to keep their work away from the public eye unless they’ve personally paid for it, and they’ve made it very clear that they’re definitely not cool with anyone making money from playing their games. If other developers and distributors find the business model to be personally beneficial to their company, there’s a huge possibility that they could jump onto SEGA’s content restriction bandwagon and personally seek out streamers and content creators who break their rules, just to hit them with some hefty personal or legal ramifications.
Due to the large communities surrounding social and e-sports games, like League of Legends and Counter-Strike, you probably won’t see video game content sharing restrictions tagged onto them at any point in the near future (hopefully), but it’s very likely that upcoming RPGs could be hit pretty hard.