Persona 5 PC Fan Project Shut Down By Atlus

After taking a hard line against streamers earlier this year (before loosening its policies a bit), Atlus is back in the news for taking action against the community over Persona 5. Earlier this week, Atlus issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice over the fan project RPCS3, which is a PS3 emulator that was used in connection with Persona 5. Using the emulator, Persona 5 could work on PC, a platform it does not officially support.

In a statement, Atlus said it took action for two main reasons. The first is that Atlus believes the best way to experience a game like Persona 5 is on the platform it was made for. "We don't want their first experiences to be framerate drops, or crashes, or other issues that can crop up in emulation that we have not personally overseen," Atlus said.

The company went on to say that it's aware Persona 5 fans would like a PC edition. And though there is no news about that right now, Atlus teased, "We are listening!"

The other main reason why Atlus took action is because of its wider policy of being more protective of its properties. The company says it's aware of the good and the bad that emulation can bring about.

"We appreciate the awareness generated by the emulation community for Persona 5 and know that it is a fantastic example of how much people are loving our game," Atlus said. "We want to keep bringing you titles like Persona 5. Unfortunately, when our content is illegally circumvented and potentially made available for free, in a format we do not think delivers the experience and quality we intend, it undermines our ability to do so by diverting potential support from new audiences."

Atlus ended its note by saying it hopes it can have an ongoing dialogue with fans about this topic, encouraging players to send in feedback.

As part of its DMCA notice, all references to Persona 5 have been taken off the RPCS3 Patreon page and website, people on Reddit discovered. The emulator is still available.

Persona 5 is available only on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. GameSpot's review scored the game a 9/10, with reviewer Lucy James saying, "It's a refined, effortlessly stylish RPG that will be talked about for years to come."