Loading...
Loading...
Materials Usage Guidelines
September 16, 2026 at 04:13 AM
Created page for the usage policy published September 10, 2026: permitted sharing, required copyright notices, the December 2 spoiler embargo on The Sunken Ship, and the list of prohibited uses
Square Enix published a usage policy for DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Withered World on September 10, 2026, the day after the free Demo went out. It sets out what players may do with screenshots and gameplay footage, what they must not do, and one dated spoiler embargo on a specific fight. It is available in Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese, and the English text is titled Materials Usage Guidelines.
The summary below is for orientation. The policy itself is the binding document, it can be changed without notice, and the version described here is the one dated September 10, 2026.
Permitted use | Conditions |
|---|---|
Gameplay videos, including the in-game music, on video sharing services | Non-commercial. You may not charge viewers for access to the footage |
Screenshots, and links to your own videos, on a personal site, blog or social account | Personal only. A site or account owned by a company or any other organisation counts as commercial use and is not covered |
Advertising revenue through a platform’s own creator programme | Permitted. This is the one carve-out from the non-commercial rule |
The policy names video sharing services and streaming platforms by example rather than by an exhaustive list, and points a platform that queries a creator’s monetisation back at the policy itself. Square Enix states that it does not field individual enquiries about it.
Anything you post has to carry a proprietary notice, and the wording differs between images and video because the music is separately owned.
Material | What the notice covers |
|---|---|
Images | A statement that the images are jointly owned and may not be reproduced or distributed, followed by the copyright line for the game |
Video | The same statement, plus a separate line covering the music, which is owned by the studio credited for the soundtrack |
Two exemptions cut a lot of the work out. If you share using a console’s own built-in capture and share function, the notice is usually added automatically and you do not need to add it again. And posts to microblogging platforms are exempt from the notice requirement entirely.
The general rule is self-policed: anything covering a major plot development has to carry a clear spoiler warning so you do not spoil other players.
On top of that there is a single hard embargo, and it is specific enough to be a source of information in its own right. Until December 2, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Japan time, you must not stream or post footage or screenshots of gameplay that follows the battle against the powerful enemy aboard The Sunken Ship in Pays de l’Oseille, which the policy identifies as the second region of the game.
Everything up to and including that point is fine. Square Enix says explicitly that collecting and training monsters in the areas available up to and including Pays de l’Oseille may be streamed and posted, provided you do not push the main story past the embargoed fight.
Because the embargo lifts on the evening before the December 3 release, in practice it binds early access players and reviewers rather than anyone playing at launch. What it also does is confirm the ordering of the world: Witherwood first, Pays de l’Oseille second. That is covered on Story and Setting.
Videos or playlists edited so that they show only cinematic scenes rather than gameplay, or exist only to let people listen to the music.
Altering or modifying the material, with the exception of the things a normal commentary video needs: your own avatar, voice-over and on-screen text.
Republishing shared material in another medium, for example collecting it into book form.
Posting to sites or services that charge for access.
Commercial use outside a platform’s own creator programme.
Posting to sites restricted to adults, to illegal or immoral services, or to services that are religious, political, or connected to antisocial activity.
Attacking or slandering specific players.
Square Enix reserves the right to object to any use and to send takedown requests to the services hosting it, and says a request has to be complied with immediately whether or not a reason is given. Persistent breaches can lead to a temporary or permanent suspension from the game itself, not just to the content coming down.
Three further points are worth knowing. Publishing your own account details or personal information in a video is at your own risk. Square Enix gives no warranty that the material will not infringe someone else’s rights and will not compensate anyone for damage arising from its use. And any dispute with a third party that comes out of your use of the material is yours to settle, at your own cost.
The policy can be revised at any time without notice, and material that no longer complies with a revised version may have to be taken down.
Demo for what the free demo contains, which is well inside the embargoed line
Story and Setting for Witherwood, Pays de l’Oseille and the rest of the world
Release Date and Early Access for the early access window the embargo effectively governs
