Persona 5’s PS4 share features are disabled (update)

Persona 5 players will have to resort to other means to share photos from the game, as developer Atlus has forbidden PlayStation 4 users from capturing screens or video using the console’s built-in functionality.

Atlus confirmed to Polygon that because Persona 5 is such a story-based game, the company made the decision to prohibit players from sharing content.

“This being a Japanese title with solely a single-playthrough story means Japan is very wary about it,” an Atlus representative said. “Sharing is currently blocked through the native PS4 UI.”

When asked by Polygon if sharing would be available to players after the game went on sale worldwide, Atlus said that the feature will continue to be blocked. Persona 5 went on sale in September 2016 in Japan, and it will be available in the West on April 4.

It’s rare that developers block the entire slate of share features for their games. There are some games that prohibit capturing screens or gameplay of certain segments. Previous entries in the MLB The Show series disabled the use of capturing during loading screens, for example.

Disabling the feature in Persona 5 has forced people to take photos with their phones, as seen in some of the tweets below.

A quick search on Twitter does show that players in Japan have been able to share screenshots from certain parts of the game directly through the PS4’s share function, but primarily from the opening animation and main menu. Atlus confirmed that the PS4 sharing feature set is disabled for the rest of the game in the Japanese version as well, however.

Update: In a blog post on Atlus’ website, the developer confirmed that streaming and videos can be shared now that the game is available worldwide, but it looks like you still won’t be able to share screenshots. The company did announce a list of guidelines it’s asking players to abide by, including being mindful of spoilers. For those looking to stream or upload videos to YouTube, Twitch or any other service, there is a longer list of guidelines that Atlus is asking players to use through 7/7 in-game. Those who disobey the guidelines may face suspensions from Atlus. The list of rules can be read on Atlus’ blog.