On September 26, 2017, Atlus released a statement on their website claiming that they did indeed issue a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Takedown Notice against the developers of the RPCS3 group. This was with regard to their Patreon crowdfunding page which included "Persona 5" in their list of playable games. According to the Anime News Network, Patreon refused to remove the page because the page itself was not violating any of Atlus USA's copyrights. With that, Atlus replied, "We kindly ask that you remove both for this reason – to make Persona 5 work on the emulator, the user has to circumvent our DRM protections."
What exactly did Atlus have against emulators?
The emulators were not the problem, but the crashes and problems that could come when the game is played using emulators.
In their statement that was released on their official website, Atlus said that they do not wish to let players experience playing the game with a lot of problems like frame drops and crashes. They also said that they are listening to the feedback of their audiences. Atlus expressed how emulators can damage the gaming experience in the statement; "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."
How did the RPCS3 group take the issue?
Since the notice was sent, the RPCS3 Patreon page removed all the mentions of "Persona 5." While many fans are against this issue, some are expressing their support for Atlus.
Most fans think that instead of trying to shut down the RPCS3, they should try working on a version that is playable on a PC. Atlus said that they are listening to the requests about making the game playable on a PC, however, they do not have further announcements to make.
About the game 'Persona'
"Persona" is a series of narrative urban RPG games that features high school students who have secret lives at night.
There are also anime adaptations of the game owing to its popularity. Talks of an upcoming "Persona" anime series by A-1 pictures are also floating around. The latest installment of the "Persona" game series was released on September 15 in Japan and on April 4 in North America. The game sold over 1.8 million copies worldwide as of August 4.
