Sega has double standard for Puyo Puyo Tetris streaming
Japanese publisher issues rules for content creators featuring puzzle game; North American arm says they won't apply
The games industry continues to struggle with how to incorporate people streaming games into the business. The latest example comes from Sega, which has adopted different stances toward streaming its Puyo Puyo Tetris from region to region.
As reported by Polygon, Sega's official Japanese website for Puyo Puyo Tetris updated streaming guidelines for the game this week, prohibiting players from profiting off their streaming, and forbidding videos of the game's story-based Adventure mode, even though Puyo Puyo Tetris first launched in Japan more than three years ago.
But with the game seeing a North American and European launch on PlayStation 4 and Switch later this month, those guidelines are not going to be universal.
"We highly encourage our American and European fans to stream Puyo Puyo Tetris when it comes out (there are no PS4 share button restrictions)," a Sega representative told Polygon. "We want them to share their experiences with the world, but we do ask them to please be conscious of revealing Adventure Mode story cutscenes."
The representative added it doesn't plan on having user accounts suspended for running afoul of those guidelines, but asked players to be respectful just the same.
This is the second time this week Sega has issued terms to the streaming community. Earlier this week, Sega subsidiary Atlus handed down a set of guidelines for streamers featuring its new PlayStation RPG, Persona 5, along with a threat that the publisher may have user accounts suspended for those who didn't play along.