“Making games is how I make a living and support my family” visual novel developer speaks out against unauthorized gameplay streaming
Story-driven games like visual novels and adventure games have a complicated relationship with streaming – watching a full stream or walkthrough video often means consuming the content of the game in its entirety, which can lead to a loss of opportunity for the developer. This is why many developers, particularly those from Japan, often set guidelines for content creators. These guidelines often define what parts of a game can and cannot be streamed, and sometimes prohibit streaming on day one.
However, enforcing these guidelines in a sea of YouTube and Twitch creators is not an easy task. Japanese game creator and novelist Takiya Iijima recently took to X to voice their frustration with the unauthorized streaming of their game and talk about the legal action they intend to take. Iijima’s dev circle released a brand-new visual novel-style adventure game on July 25, and they asked content creators to wait until August 3 to secure a 10-day window for initial sales. Despite the guidelines being very reasonable, it seems users ignored them and streamed hours of the game, including its endings, on day one of release.
In response, Iijima expressed shock and disappointment, emphasizing that they make games to earn a living and support their family. The developer was at a loss as to what action to take, noting that YouTube videos can be taken down with relative ease, but that this is not the case with Twitch. Ultimately, the creator decided to take legal action against the individual(s). Due to the post gaining significant traction in the gaming community, the offending videos were deleted, but the developer received no apology nor explanation.
By taking thorough legal measures, Iijima hopes to set an example and protect other creators from being negatively impacted by unauthorized streaming and videos uploads. At the same time, they clarify that they are not attempting to vilify game content creators as a whole. In Japanese gaming circles, streaming guidelines are generally taken a lot more seriously than in English-speaking communities, regardless of whether they are defined by a large company or a solo developer. But it is not just a matter of ethics either, as unauthorized streaming is, legally speaking, copyright infringement. Last year, Japan saw its first arrest related to the issue, when a man was accused of violating copyright laws for uploading video game and anime footage to YouTube.
The reason why this kind of thing is never taken seriously here is due to the fact these let’s players, twitch streamers give attention to games that otherwise would not have them in the first place. We are used to endings being spoiled and plot points being in YouTube videos, it is annoying but usually everyone just ignores it and plays the game or decides to play the game watching a scene or two to avoid any further spoilers.
I do think a compromise can be made over there for the ending to wait 10 days after release for the ending as usually that is the least worst route to take vs say Atlus of a year. But also arresting users for uploading footage is kind of just overdoing it as well as that wastes law enforcement time.