If your first reaction to this headline is "What are these words and why this order?" That would be. That is understandable. Because the current discourse in the Japanese gaming community is, after all, centered around a genre that is not often discussed here: the visual novel.

Let me briefly explain. Earlier this month, Takiya Iijima, the author and developer of a visual novel called Apathy Murder Club, announced on Twitter that he would be taking legal action against streamers who violated a call posted on his Steam page not to stream the game until August 8. We're here because it didn't happen.

While we are accustomed to a fairly relaxed attitude by gaming companies regarding live streaming of their products, visual novels are a different beast in Japan, where violators who posted clips online were arrested and prosecuted last year.

The crux of the issue is that visual novels are more like books or movies than games. If you see someone playing a game, you get only one-third to one-half of the experience, but if you see someone playing a visual novel, you essentially get the whole experience.

While I have mixed feelings on the subject, I don't think it's entirely unfair for developers, especially smaller developers, to espouse this theory; an agreement like the one on the Steam page seems like a decent compromise, and even if it was entirely deserved, trust betrayal would probably be heartbreaking.

The buzz surrounding the author's first tweet has grown large enough in Japan that, as reported (and translated) by Automaton, Pocket Pair (a game that has reached 2 million concurrent users and, as of this writing, boasts a very respectable 50,000 at its 24-hour peak, Palworld's developer), the CEO of Palworld, took to Twitter to express his opinion.

Takuro Mizobe said that the current disturbance was "caused by individuals with bad manners ...... He seemed sympathetic to Iijima, stating that "it is important for developers and players to respect each other and follow each other's rules. However, Mizobe would like to point out that "most game content creators follow the rules, and there are many developers who are happy to have their games streamed.

Palworld's surge in popularity has been supported in part by the presence of streaming. The edgy connotations and Pokémon-like companionship merged nicely with the fact that it was a half-hearted survival game. So it is not surprising that Mizobe adds, "I can't thank the streamers enough for making the Poképire games available to so many people."

"I also think the culture of streaming games is a wonderful thing in itself, and I think game content creators have a big role to play in revitalizing the gaming industry."

Granted, "Palworld" is not a visual novel, April Fool's jokes aside, so "streamers are good" might be an easy stance for the studio to take. I recall a Warframe developer saying not too long ago that major publishers were too quick to give up on live-service games.