[UPDATE: Square Enix has released a patch that allows PS4 streaming to YouTube once again.]
Square Enix’s newest action shooter, Left Alive, which released just a couple of days ago in Japan and will launch in the west on March 5, has gotten off to a rocky start. Due to the game’s poor reception thus far, the company has decided to take immediate action on the matter in the region of Japan.
In response to a rough launch weekend for the game, Square Enix has chosen to disable streaming for Left Alive in Japan. Players who attempt to stream the game will notice they’ve been blocked from posting on any provider, where at first only event scenes in the game’s story were blocked for viewers.
The decision to not allow players to stream Left Alive is different from other streaming restrictions players have been forced to deal with in the past. Back in 2017, developer Atlus banned anyone from streaming Persona 5 past the in-game July 7 calendar date, before loosening the restriction to the in-game date of November 19.
Here, it looks as though Square Enix is realizing Left Alive will likely underperform, and are looking to find ways to prevent those interested in finding second-hand impressions before making a purchasing decision. However, in the age of various video-on-demand platforms and YouTube, simply disabling streaming can only help so much.
Left Alive is currently available in Japan, and will release in the west on March 5 for PC and PlayStation 4.
Source: Siliconera
