Square Enix asked you nicely not to stream Final Fantasy VII Remake until April 10.
Really, it was more of a plea with the gaming community to have respect for other fans who did not receive the game early and keep spoilers off of the internet.
But some members of the gaming community decided to ignore that and now it’s time to pay the piper.
When Square Enix shipped early physical copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake to gamers in Australia and parts of Europe, it did so with a special message from game producer Yoshinori Kitase, who politely asked gamers to refrain from posting content until April 10.
At the same time, Square also released the game’s Material Usage License. The usage license, which all players agree to follow by playing the game, states that nothing can be shared online until April 10. Anything shared before that is a violation of copyright law.
But a number of Twitch streamers didn’t care about that.
Looks like I just got auto-DMCA'd by @SquareEnix. Apparently, they're allowed to tell retailers to sell it, I'm allowed to go to a store and buy it, and without any official communication they're allowed to have my Twitch channel suspended for streaming it. Nice dudes. https://t.co/6tC5EJjTM7
— Excessive Profanity (@CodyHargreaves) April 1, 2020
Twitch got to work shooting down these illegal streams of the game before they could do too much damage. Some streamers, like the one shown above, even got their entire account banned for attempting to stream the game in violation of copyright law.
Some members of the online community have reacted to this news with logic, noting that when you’re told specifically that something is illegal and you do it anyway, you suffer the consequences.
Other internet users acted like internet users and threw fits over Square enforcing its legal copyright.
At the end of the day, Square Enix did a service for the gaming community by shipping copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake early. They could have just as easily thrown their hands in the air and stated that you’re going to get it when you get it and if it’s late, then it’s late.
But they didn’t do that. They went out of their way send the game out early and only asked one thing in return; that gamers not spoil the experience for others.
An important message from the #FinalFantasy VII Remake development team. #FF7R pic.twitter.com/UwBMNaIaXX
— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) March 30, 2020
“To everyone we would like to ask one big favor,” game producer Yoshinori Kitase said before copies shipped. “If you get the game early, please think of others and don’t spoil it for them. We know there are potential spoilers that have been out there for over two decades as the original Final Fantasy VII was released in 1997. But Final Fantasy VII Remake is a new game that still has many surprises for everyone. All our fans and players deserve to experience the game for themselves, and we ask for the support of our dedicated community around the world to ensure that.”
It’s unfortunate that people still felt the need to try to spoil the game after such a heartfelt outreach from the producer himself, but it’s good to see that Square and Twitch were ready to enforce this.
