Japanese comedian and YouTuber Eiko Kano, famous for his spectacularly chaotic playthroughs of the Resident Evil series, recently talked about an exchange he had with Shinji Mikami – director of the original RE and RE4 – on the topic of playthrough videos and gaming streams.
As reported by Nikkan, on June 18, Kano appeared on a TV program dedicated to sharing “badass” anecdotes from his life, and the moment he looked back on as exceptionally cool was his encounter with Mikami. Gaming streams can be a sensitive topic among game developers (particularly in Japan), with opinions divided on whether they’re simply a beneficial form of “free marketing,” or conversely, lead to a loss of opportunity as people “consume” games through viewing and don’t end up buying them. Given these circumstances, Kano had been concerned about his own streaming activities at the time.
Although he had explicit permission from Capcom, the fact that he was essentially spoiling the stories and puzzles of Resident Evil titles made him anxious about whether the creators behind them felt uncomfortable with it. When he later got an opportunity to meet Mikami in person, he decided to ask him directly about his stance. Although Kano was fully prepared to stop streaming if he got a negative answer, Mikami reportedly responded, “If viewers watch a playthrough of a game all the way to the end and are satisfied with just that, then it was only that good of a game.”
He went on to explain, “Our job is to make games that leave people wanting to clear them with their own hands, even if they’ve watched someone else do it, so keep streaming.” This suggests Mikami considers developers fully responsible for how exposure through playthroughs will affect their games. Incidentally, Kano adds that he has received almost the exact same response from Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii on the matter (although this doesn’t seem to be reflected in Square Enix’s streaming guidelines for the series so much).
Interestingly, Square Enix’s Naoki Hamaguchi, who’s directing the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, expressed a similar sentiment not long ago, commenting that with playthroughs becoming increasingly popular nowadays, RPGs need to evolve in a way that makes viewers itch to play them themselves, rather than just consume the story.
I totally use video walkthroughs I been playing the whole RE series started RE0, played through all of them 2,3,4 remakes on the ps5 I’m on RE5 right now and I’m totally enjoying the whole playthrough and story and it Lore is incredible!! I can’t wait for 6 and 7,8,9 when I get there, so fantastic!!
sometimes, when I watch someone’s playthrough from FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, only two to three parts is enough for me and it begs me to pay this game for myself. Even if I waited for more than 3 years until I bought this game, plus the PS6 (if it’s launched).
Sometimes, when I watch someone’s playthrough from FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, I stopped midway in two to three parts is enough for me and it begs me to pay this game for myself. Even if I waited for more than 3 years until I bought this game, plus the PS6 (if it’s launched).
I would say, getting a game is much better than watching someone’s playthrough. I kinda agree but there’s one thing that bothers me, one friend of mine wanted to bought the RE9 Requiem, even though she only focus on the plot itself, so she went to watch it all the way to end. The reason is that she’s not pretty good at playing first person shooter or how to hold a controller, while I’m more interested about game mechanics and how playable it gets. There’s a difference.
I was expecting bigger and more from 9. Like a zelda breath of the wild size map or bigger packed with stuff to do.
I like more game creators are making statements on this. It has got to be a tough thing to try to work around.
That’s way off. alot of kids watch them because it’s too hard for them or too expensive. Also they are very lazy. Alot would rather watch than play its wild. Also alot of games are shitty so ill watch someone play for like an hour to see if ill like it but im older.
I couldn’t get myself to play Requiem, I had to watch it online. But resident evil 4 (both versions) and the 2nd and 3rd remakes and 5 were all perfect, especially 4 and 5.
I agree. These cinematic ‘games’ really had little to no difficulty. But for some reason the cinematic or simple ones were the most popular: Witcher 3, RE, etc..
Maybe it just confirms low IQ and desire for masking something easy as something ‘deeply satisfying’, and most people would not even know what that means.
I totally agree as watching someone playing a game is no fun .yes it might make people not buy the game but they might but why as you’ve seen it.stramers should be made to pay to steam these games as it is lost revenue for companies
Corpo shill detected. About the only people deluded enough to think policing entertainment streaming would get them stoned.
There is literally another article on this web explaining why less money to the game dev disincentivises them making games: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/streamers-earn-more-money-from-playing-games-than-devs-do-from-making-them-japanese-indie-devs-voice-need-for-revenue-sharing-with-content-creators/
if the money goes to streamers who the f wants to make games? then everyone will do that and there will be no more games.
Streamers are advertisement, they get paid to play people’s games
Loved the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games growing up but with the weird trend of making everything first person pov is a turn off for me. I personally do not like first person pov as it somehow throws me off. I opt to watch playthroughs of those games and end up not buying them because I don’t like first person pov. Which is the reason I only watched a playthrough of Resident Evil 7 and never bought the game. I also watched a playthrough of RE8 but then I found out there was a third person pov (DLC) I bought the game and loved it. Imo offer a third person pov to games that are first person. Also insanely hard games like the Souls games are also popular watches for me because I am not gonna spend weeks on the same boss lol I rather watch someone more skilled do it. Lol
That’s how I felt about re9 , not worth $75
cool, it costs $70
How about you stop being poor then
I’m a big fan of Resident Evil, but since I started my undergraduate and recently graduate education, I have no money to buy a gaming console, a pc, or a dedicated gaming laptop. My only option is to watch the play through. No matter how much eager I’m to play all the new RE games, I’m gonna have to wait until I get some financial stability. For some us, watching streams is so important because we simply can’t afford to play games anymore
Love re
It’s definitely enough i just don’t got money 😭
I left a comment earlier about how video games are not an affordable anymore to a portion of the population and we simply can watch a playthrough to entertain ourselves and see how good our favorite games are. The moderators have removed it. I guess these article writers simply don’t like the truth lol. Shame on you bro. Now you can ban me forever from reading your stupid articles and I won’t even care.
Mad simp detected. Tell me more about your favorite and least favorite boss. Your build. The order of locations visited. Who you romanced. Your play style. Your most used character or weapon. Best area in the game? Oh wait, watchers cant do that!
I made a account here just to reply to you, i feel like you’re being too hard on this person. The first ever re game i ever played with my older brother and only at the time when everyone was using the xbox 360 was re5 and me and my older brother were terrible, we could never seem to beat the butcher man in chapter 1 and we would always restart everytime despite the fact that you can just run around for a majority of the time and wait it out till the helicopter man helps you. Some ppl would take away sheevas weapons and leave her with nothing making her Ai rely on comboing. I did not know this till i watched a playthrough. This makes sheeva way better and stops sheeva from mag dumping those dogs for example. Nobody hates resident evil fans more than resident evil fans themselves and im noticing this more and more on apps like Instagram its like you have to pick a side between liking the original or liking remakes. Theres people who hate on re3s remake but like the original and theres people who like the remake more than the original, some people there say they like the remake because it removes the “filler” while other complain about lack of content on the remake. It should never get to a point where you have to pick a side to enjoy a game. We should really stop harassing people for being broke. Not everyone can get jobs, it took me over a year after graduating to get a job, the job market is rigged, my local McDonald’s hires a 13 yr old and has them clean for them but on indeed they say they need fresh highschool graduates but then turn you down after an interview. People have no control over being broke that’s just reality. This is why people watch playthroughs while others use emulation. Emulation by itself has issues, buttons can be delayed giving u latency and input lag, sometimes your phone can not handle the storage and it acts up and kicks you out of the app. This can be frustrating for newcoming players to experience the older games. This is why some people go to playthroughs this is why youtubers who make visual novel content gains soo much views in their videos because i believe that people cannot actually afford a pc but still want to enjoy a series so they watch longplays that lasts hours. We should stop being judgemental to newcomers its becoming annoying to see. And when u said “Tell me more about your favorite and least favorite boss. Your build. The order of locations visited. Your play style. Your most used character or weapon. Best area in the game? ” you can still call a boss your favorite while not actually playing the games heres a example people talk about beatrice from umineko while not actually playing the visual novels. They use longplays and read the umineko manga while not actually “playing” the game. My favorite boss in re4 is the water creature that requires you to steer and throw that spear like harpoon at it. My least favorite boss is that giant that you fight and need the wolf’s help, and when u have ashley with u, u have to fight him again. I cannot stand this boss when i have no grenades, no flashbangs, no rocket launcher, it becomes a pain to fight. But you will see people on professional longplays beat it with a mere knife, yes u heard me correctly a knife. You talking about “builds, the locations you visited, playstyle, most used character, or weapon, or best area of the game” this does not matter they dont have to answer your questions. This isnt a job interview to gain a random persons approval on the internet thats the problem with people like you and thats why people will keep trash talking this fandom because people in it act this way. And “characters who you romanticized”? Why should someone have to say that yk how weird that sounds right? To romanticize a fictional character yk what a digital footprint is right? Thats cringe. Again nobody has to answer you on that. This isnt a job application to gain ur approval to be a re fan. Let the people do what they want. Let em watch a longplay, hell it’ll help them understand puzzles. Do you think a new player is going to understand the insignia puzzle without youtube, or a guide? Absolutely not.
Uh, maybe I only watch playthroughs because I can’t afford the game and don’t meet the sys reqs but want to follow the story anyway? XD
Re 7 and 8 were youtube only for me, no interest in them.
It’s because I’m broke. I want to enjoy the story 1st then see if I want to play it. If I do then I invest. Stop crying your companies nickle and dime for your bottom line. Maybe if the game companies didn’t do that then maybe we could afford games. This is result of bad company direction. How are you gonna cry about it when the choices were made by the company to make it harder to get products, not the consumer.
It’s called saving up and proper money management.
I wish and hope the RE 9 comes out on the ps4.ive played every RE game and it breaks my heart I can’t play the latest cause it’s not on my console 😞
BS best RE by far plus leon must die adds another game dont listen to him.
Yeah I’m torn on this. It seems like an easy way to become jaded and discouraged as a dev, but I can understand the mindset. The plain truth of it is some people just grow out of certain genres. At this point in my life, a linear game like RE:4 just isnt enough for me. Sandbox and strategy games like Total War, Rimworld, Kenshi etc have completely changed what I find entertaining. A game that’s linear isnt *bad* but I’d much rather watch a streamer I already have a paranormal relationship to play a game like RE or the upcoming wolverine. Linear games are just too small
And thats to say nothing of the rising cost. Why would I pay $70 for a game with 0 replayablilty when Kenshi is a fraction of the price for over 4000hrs of fun? Why would I pay 70 dollars for one resident evil narrative when I could buy the anomaly DLC for rimworld and just make my own umbrella corp?
Well some of us are cowards and can’t play a horror game but would like to experience it.
The game : 1 and its Remake is great !!!!!
I give it a 100 % , and playthrough : 100 %
Thank you !!!!!!
I am in agreement Watching play through. and you did not feel like you wanted to play the game. 2 things can be going on the developer worst fear or you’re not a truth fan of the genre.
The new generation dad of war. Watched both games. That was good enough.
Ignore gunbuster bitch goes to comments where people explain games has gotten too expensive and tell them “then save up” “how does it feel not building your own build” and most prevalent is his comment “Stop Being Poor”
It’s okay if you already beat the game I guess.. by yourself
My favorite ones are RE 5 and Revelations 2 would love to see a follow up on Revelations series
Hahaha i just did that with the mafia series. That game was so full of bugs and glitches and did not run as well as it should. If a game runs like garbage or is just not worth the ridiculous nonsense they implemented like those dark anthology or tell tale games im gonna just watch a video lol.
Watching a playthrough was enough because nobody in their right mind is going to spend $100 on a digital-only game they will never own and is crawling with DRM…
I will never be able to play these games as the skill level is just too high and the horror is just too much to stomach on my own. Through gameppay footage online, I can enjoy the narrative without struggling. So no, let’s plays aren’t a lesser form nor are bad, some people just can’t enjoy your games in the intended way, and they probably never will. That is okay.