Virtual YouTuber Mori Calliope recently went viral after begging Atlus, a Japanese video game developer and publisher, for than three hours to let her play the RPG Persona 3 on a livestream. The pink-haired anime-inspired virtual gamer seemed distressed as she pleaded, “Atlus, please, I’m begging you, please, let me, please, let me play, Persona 3, and live stream it, please. “I’m begging you to let me play your game, please.”
Persona 3, also known as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, is the fourth installment in the Persona series. The game was first released by Atlus for the PS2 in Japan in July 2006 and in North America in 2007. Meanwhile, Persona 3 FES, a director's cut version with a new playable epilogue, was released in globally in 2008.
The game is set in a Japanese high school overrun by demons where each player assumes the role of one or more Personas, creatures and monsters based on the Major Arcana trump cards of the Tarot. Each Persona exhibits a range of abilities as well as individual strengths and weaknesses, which they must use to must defeat powerful Shadows and advance to the next level.
Each Persona has a catch phrase that they say before carrying out an attack. In Mori’s case, the phrase was “I’ve been waiting for this.” In her livestream, the VTuber begged for more than 90 minutes as thousands of her more than 762K subscribers watched. Her campaign quickly began trending on Twitter.
Despite her insistence, Mori never clarifies why she can’t play Persona 3. Atlus has generally only restricted gamers from showing their latest installment, in this case Persona 5, during livestreams. An Atlus representative told Polygon that they have no knowledge of having rejected Mori’s request to livestream the game.
According to insiders, the VTuber, who is managed by Hololive Production, a Japanese talent agency owned by Cover Corp., may have had copyright issues with Atlus. In Japan, unlike the United States, there is no fair use doctrine, where in certain circumstances copyright material may be used without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder.
Although the issues surrounding Mori’s inability to livestream Persona 3 are unclear, her video has certainly been effective as a publicity stunt with thousands supporting her with the hashtag #CallioP3.
Source: Polygon