A VTuber’s Anonymous;Code stream was cut off with a copyright strike despite getting permission for the broadcast

A VTuber’s recent livestream of Anonymous;Code, which he received permission to broadcast, was recently cut short due to a copyright strike mid-stream. The VTuber caught up in the dispute was Rio Minase from the group Holostars during a stream on August 17 (JST). Anonymous;Code was developed and published by Mages, and it appears that the company’s CEO Chiyomaru Shikura was watching the broadcast when he decided to submit a copyright claim against the stream.

しばらく観てたんですが、大きな事件も一つ解決したし、他の視聴者さんもそろそろ許してくれるかな？と思い、原作者権限で止めさせて頂きました。遊んでくれて、反応してくれるのはとても面白かったです。ただ、配信制限があるので、そこだけ今後は気をつけてくださいね。さすがに長かったですねぇ 笑 https://t.co/dkHOCoNYQF

— 志倉千代丸 (@chiyomaru5pb) August 17, 2022

Anonymous;Code is an adventure game that recently launched in Japan on July 28. The game is part of the Science Adventure series and the latest title from Chiyomaru Shikura and the staff behind Steins;Gate, Chaos;Child, and more.

Rio Minase began streaming a first playthrough of Anonymous;Code on August 17 (JST). However, the broadcast was suddenly cut off and even the archive was deleted. The streamer then took to Twitter to express his confusion about what happened because he had already received permission from the publisher for the livestream.

Anonymous;Code has limitations on what parts of the game can be streamed. However, Minase said that he had confirmed beforehand that he was allowed to hold the livestream. Minase apologized for the confusion and said he would confirm with management what happened.

But just who stopped the stream? That would be Mages’ Shikura. After the broadcast was removed, Shikura posted a tweet saying that the broadcast had exceeded the permitted streaming limits which is why he stopped it with a copyright strike. Things started to get fuzzy as the statements from Minase and Shikura didn’t quite match up.

As speculation started to fly about who was in the right and who was in the wrong, the official Science Adventures Twitter account released a statement on August 18. The statement said that there was no problem with Minase’s stream and that the error was on the company’s side.

After the statement was released, Shikura was quickly bombarded with criticism. Most of it was related to causing harm to Minase’s channel due to careless miscommunication on the corporate side. In addition, if a YouTube channel receives 3 strikes, the account and channel are suspended. Many were saying this carelessness had put the existence of Minase’s channel in danger.

To supplement this bit of information, though, copyright strike warnings on YouTube expire after 90 days. They can also be withdrawn by the party that submitted the claim. So at the very least, this shouldn’t cause any permanent damage to Minase’s channel.

Shikura also took to his personal Twitter account to release an apology, explaining he wasn’t able to communicate with the Science Adventure team and the PR department before Minase’s stream took place. Shikura acknowledged that his decision caused the issue and apologized to Minase. However, even the apology drew criticism for being uploaded late at night and was deemed too casual of a manner for some readers.

Shikura also held a TwitCasting livestream early in the morning on August 19 where he explained his side of the story. Shikura said he had watched the stream for 3 hours without knowing that Minase had received permission to do so.

He further explained that while the stream was interesting and being well received, some streamers will stream an entire game without being aware of any restrictions on what can be shown. Shikura says he concluded that Minase might play to the end of the game and issued the copyright claim.

Shikura says he found out the following day that the company Minase works with had received permission to stream and highlighted that Minase was the victim of the situation and not responsible for what happened.

Finally, Shikura says they have contacted YouTube about the deleted archive and copyright claim and asked that they be corrected. If YouTube accepts the withdrawal of the copyright claim, then Minase’s channel should return to its normal status.

As for Minase, he asks that no one cause trouble for anyone involved.

It’s not rare to see officially approved game streams these days, but you could say this is somewhat of a strange case. With adventure games especially, spoilers are a big deal, so it’s possible to understand where Shikura was coming from.

However, some were upset by his wording when he made the copyright strike and the casual tone of the apology. Developers and streamers both share a goal of creating excitement around games, so hopefully we won’t see this kind of trouble again in the future.

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-08-19 13:33 JST)