The streamer mode of Guardians of the Galaxy is still not a perfect solution

Square Enix seems to be all-in these days at streaming modes, but they do not turn out to be the wonder weapon for DMCA claims, which many streamer hoped. The streaming mode of Life is Strange: TRUE COLORS has muted almost everything except the sound effects in some scenes, creating some pretty unpleasant and immersion-breaking moments. Guardians of the Galaxy has just introduced its own streamer mode, and although it is definitely an improvement in TRUE COLORS, there are still some problems.

Guardians of the Galaxy is full of licensed music that really revives the gameplay and movie sequences, but the integrated streamer mode reduces the effect of some moments in the game dramatically. At the beginning in Chapter 1, there is an escape sequence set to I ran (so far away) from A Flock of Seagulls. If the streamer mode is activated, this track is completely removed and replaced by nothing, whereby a void of the silence creates the sequence flat.

This will be surprising by the fact that some other moments in which licensed music is used are replaced by their own DMCA safe compositions of the game collapsed on the Star Lord Album. However, it is incredibly inconsistent. As mentioned in our Guardians of the Galaxy Test for PS5, some offset pieces have replaced the licensed music while others decide for silence. The main menu removes all the music and the Milano often remains without background noise, as nothing is played from the Jukebox during the exploration of the ship.

The inconsistency here really dampens the fantastic experience and some great moments. There is about half a dozen tracks on the Star Lord Album, and they are all to listen to all great and appropriate replacement for copyrighted music, but they feel incredibly unused.

If the mode is active, the text Streaming Mode: On is displayed at the top of the screen. It s always there, and although it does not distract, it is definitely frustrating to have it throughout the game.

It is worth noting that this is one of the better implemented streamer modes and LiveStreamer has already expressed their appreciation for the mode. Despite his usefulness to keep the DMCA wolves away, we are still not at the point where experience is preserved in a great way.

Since the in-house music covers only a few of the moments of embarrassing silence, the streamer mode in Guardians of the Galaxy ultimately feels like a semi-finished feature. It is clear that we still have a long way before us until Streamer can self-confidently protect themselves from DMCA claims while maintaining the best possible gaming experience.

Since this feature is more and more used and tested, hopefully a perfect template will be created from which developers can borrow.