Streaming games on Twitch and other platforms can be a real boon for game developers exposing games to people who may never have considered purchasing them before. However, Final Fantasy VII Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi has said it can also be slightly problematic with JRPGs in particular, as some prefer to watch the game play out in a stream and feel satisfied without actually playing the game and experiencing it for themselves.
One way the team at Square Enix have countered this is that the long-awaited Final Fantasy VII: Revelation will include much more emphasis on player choice than the previous two entries, meaning that each play through of the game will be unique which in turn will make some players want to dip back into the game once they’ve completed it to see how the world might have changed had they had opted for a different choice. Hamaguchi also said that the upcoming game will actually make you feel tense about making crucial snap decisions, which should be interesting. It should be noted though that there will only be one ending, so the choices you make won’t give you a traditional good or bad ending, etc. Here’s what he said:
“One thing RPGs like Final Fantasy need to be careful about today is the possibility that people might simply watch a stream and feel satisfied without ever playing the game themselves. This is a bit of a crisis for the work itself, or rather, it’s not something game creators can wholeheartedly celebrate.”
“If people watch a stream and it makes them think What would I do in that situation? or How would I experiment with that?, then hopefully they’ll be inspired to try it themselves.”
I think he’s very out of touch and full of himself like many at Square. But I agree many prefer to watch games and streams over play them but not that many care about this as much as he thinks.
That’s been happening for years, it’s called movies.
The problem with games going forward is a lot of gamers may choose to just watch a game they like because they can’t buy it physically and because it’s become too expensive.
Games are getting so costly and there is a lot of availability now with all the quality indies too so there’s a lot more gamers waiting for discounts and pre owned sales instead of rushing out and paying full price on day one!