It’s happening: Two years later, Mori Calliope’s Persona 3 begging has finally paid off

Hololive VTuber Mori Calliope is on the verge of finally being able to play her beloved Persona 3 on-stream after two years of waiting. 

Calli hinted on Twitter on Jan. 18 that she would be hosting a sponsored stream without revealing the title. Soon after, however, she quoted ATLUS’ official announcement for Persona 3 Portable PC port with a message: “Guess what. :}”

In Dec. 2020, Calli hosted a stream with one sole reason⁠—beg ATLUS until they gave her permission to play Persona 3 on her YouTube channel.

For a total of 90 minutes, she could be heard repeating phrases like, “Please, ATLUS, I’m begging you. I’m begging you. My deadbeats are begging you. We are all begging you to please let me play the game. Please let me livestream the game Persona 3.” 

Distorted music from the game’s soundtrack was looped in the background of her now-iconic YouTube stream, and accompanied by bizarre UI elements. The stream hit 250,000 viewers at the time, Polygon reported. While Calli was unsuccessful⁠—ATLUS is famous for denying streamers permission to stream its games⁠—the broadcast became a famous part of her ongoing streaming career.

While the VOD no longer exists, clips of the feverish stream are still online.

Fans of the Hololive VTuber found new hope of seeing Persona 3 on-stream in June 2022, after Calli suggested she could be inquiring about the PC port of the portable version of her beloved title. This time, however, Calli was going about it in a bit more of an ordered fashion.

“I’m not going to desperately ask ATLUS for permissions again. That was a stream I did when I did not realize how big hololive had become,” the streaming star said. “We don’t want to return to that, but instead I will have my company very politely ask for permission.”

She added that, while the original ‘asking for permission’ Persona 3 stream may have been legendary, it was also “a bad fucking decision.” At the time, she commented, “We’ve made contact, and ATLUS has been very chill.”

Since then, she has commenced an ongoing playthrough of Persona 5 Royal after receiving permissions from ATLUS, but for many fans that did not bring the closure they were after⁠—though that may be over very soon now.

If true⁠—until we see her playing, it could still be up in the air⁠—Calli’s foray into Persona 3 Portable would mark the end of one of the VTuber’s longest-running storylines.

Update Jan. 19, 6.10pm CT: Calli confirmed that the unnamed sponsor for her next stream was ATLUS, and has since broadcasted her first session of Persona 3.