Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami recently gave his take on streaming, specifically the problem that some people may feel satisfied just watching playthroughs without ever picking up the game itself.
As reported by Nikkan Sports, comedian and gamer Eiko Kano was recently on a late night Japanese TV show, which features guests sharing anecdotes about people they admire and think are cool. Kano shared what happened when he asked Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami for his thoughts on game streamers and spoilers.
“If viewers watching a game stream through to the ending feel satisfied, then that’s all the game is worth,” was the response from Mikami. “It’s our job (as game creators) to make games that people want to try completing with their own hands, even if they have already watched the whole game.” He then encouraged Kano to keep streaming games.
Comedian Eiko Kano streams games on his YouTube channel and has even popped up as a playable fighter in a bizarre promo version of Street Fighter 2 (Automaton). Despite gaining official permission to stream from publishers, he was concerned as to how the creators behind games like the Resident Evil series feel when the puzzle solutions and plot twists of their works get spoiled in a livestream, hence the question. Had someone like Mikami disapproved of streamers, Kano says he would have quit streaming.
Kano added that he got a similar response from Yuji Horii when he asked the Dragon Quest creator the same question.
Earlier this month, Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi described the phenomenon of people watching RPGs instead of playing them as a “crisis.” However, like Mikami and Horii, he also pointed out that the responsibility rests with game developers to make something that piques the curiosity of stream watchers enough that they want to play it. “If people watch a game stream and it makes them wonder, ‘What would I do in that situation?’ or, ‘How would I experiment with that?’, then they’ll hopefully be inspired to try playing it themselves,” he explained, before adding that “The world is changing, and entertainment must evolve with the times.”
As for Mikami, Stellar Blade developer Shift Up bought his new studio, Unbound, earlier this year and announced plans to help create and publish its next game. Mikami, who is also known for his work on Devil May Cry, Dino Crisis, and The Evil Within, founded Unbound after leaving Tango Gameworks prior to Microsoft’s closure of the studio — the Hi-Fi Rush developer has since been acquired and reopened by PUBG owner Krafton. This new enterprise was born in 2022 and has remained fully independent until now, having not released or revealed a project in that time.
Speaking in an announcement video, Mikami teased that he was working on “a fairly large game,” insisting “we’re going to create a masterpiece of a game.”
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
