Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami has reportedly said that if a livestream of a game is enough to satisfy a player, the game itself can’t be good enough.
That’s according to Japanese comedian Eika Kano, who attributed the views to Mikami during a recent TV appearance.
As reported by Nikkan, Kano appeared on TV Asahi’s late-night chat show Mitorizu Jan last week, where he was asked to share anecdotes about people he admired.
Kano – who regularly streams games on his own YouTube channel – explained that he had previously been conflicted about streaming games like Resident Evil titles, because a lot of those games involve puzzle and storyline elements.
“When I play Resident Evil, there are bits and pieces of the story and puzzles that come up here and there, and I realized I was giving all of that away to my viewers,” he said (via machine translation).
“I wondered how people feel about spoilers. I did get permission from Capcom, the game company behind it, but I still wondered what the actual situation was.”
Kano said he then got the opportunity to have a conversation with Mikami, during which he decided to ask what his views were on streaming, preparing to quit if Mikami said he didn’t like it.
Instead, Mikami reportedly told Kano: “If viewers watching the game stream are satisfied just by watching it through to the end, then the game must only be so good.”
He reportedly added: “It’s our job to make games that make people want to finish them with their own hands, even after watching someone else beat them.”
The comedian said he also spoke to Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii about the same topic, and received the same response. “The gods, the legends, all share that mindset,” he suggested.
Kano’s anecdote echoes recent comments made by Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi, who said earlier this month that modern RPGs need to feature more player agency, to discourage players from choosing to watch streams instead.
“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,” Hamaguchi said to 4Gamer (as translated by Automaton). “This is a bit of a crisis for the work itself – or rather, it’s not something game creators can wholeheartedly celebrate.”
