{"id":68069,"date":"2026-06-10T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=68069"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T06:58:10","slug":"final-fantasy-vii-revelation-director-says-todays-rpgs-need-more-player-agency-because-fans-may-be-satisfied-just-watching-streams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/final-fantasy-vii-revelation-director-says-todays-rpgs-need-more-player-agency-because-fans-may-be-satisfied-just-watching-streams\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy VII Revelation director says today\u2019s RPGs need more player agency because fans may be satisfied just watching streams\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last week,\u00a0Square Enix announced\u00a0that\u00a0<strong>Final Fantasy VII Revelation<\/strong>, the remake trilogy\u2019s\u00a0much-awaited\u00a0final installment, is coming in the spring of 2027.\u00a0Evolving from FFVII Rebirth, the new entry will put a greater and more deliberate\u00a0emphasis on players making choices, affecting both\u00a0the order of\u00a0game progression and\u00a0the\u00a0narrative\u00a0experience\u00a0itself. Although FFVII Revelation\u2019s will have only one\u00a0ending, it will\u00a0include\u00a0enough branching\u00a0content\u00a0to make sure no single playthrough is the same, and experiencing everything the game has to offer\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be possible\u00a0in\u00a0just one run, as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/what-does-final-fantasy-7-revelation-do-differently-from-its-predecessors-director-naoki-hamaguchi-on-meaningful-player-choices-resolving-the\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the series&#8217; director Naoki\u00a0Hamaguchi recently told us<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly,&nbsp;in a new interview with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.4gamer.net\/games\/013\/G101379\/20260607016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">4Gamer<\/a>,&nbsp;Hamaguchi&nbsp;says he&nbsp;considers increased player agency and room for individualized playthroughs&nbsp;to be&nbsp;characteristics that&nbsp;games need to offer in today\u2019s market,&nbsp;and he&nbsp;associates this with the prevalence of&nbsp;gaming&nbsp;streams.&nbsp;\u201cOne 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.&nbsp;This is a bit of a crisis for the work itself, or rather,&nbsp;it\u2019s&nbsp;not something game creators can wholeheartedly&nbsp;celebrate,\u201d he comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1687\" height=\"940\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1687px) 100vw, 1687px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610-68069-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-68084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610-68069-001.jpg 1687w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610-68069-001-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610-68069-001-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260610-68069-001-1536x856.jpg 1536w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Hamaguchi explicitly clarifies that he&nbsp;isn\u2019t&nbsp;being dismissive of streaming, he&nbsp;says that if a game\u2019s experience is limited to progressing through a story,&nbsp;users&nbsp;may find it more enjoyable to&nbsp;simply&nbsp;watch their favorite influences play them instead,&nbsp;ultimately&nbsp;affecting&nbsp;the game\u2019s reach. Instead,&nbsp;he says,&nbsp;\u201cif people watch a stream and it makes them think&nbsp;<em>What would I do in that situation?<\/em>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<em>How would I experiment with&nbsp;that?<\/em>,&nbsp;then&nbsp;hopefully&nbsp;they\u2019ll be inspired to try it themselves.\u201d&nbsp;Believing that entertainment should&nbsp;evolve&nbsp;and adapt with the times instead of stubbornly clinging to old ways, Hamaguchi says&nbsp;he\u2019s&nbsp;been trying to challenge himself in this regard&nbsp;throughout&nbsp;FFVII&nbsp;Remake, Rebirth, and now Revelation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a related note, \u201cChoices\u201d also happen to be ono of FFVII Revelation\u2019s core conceptual themes. In line with the game\u2019s role as the trilogy\u2019s finale and the story that awaits the characters, the game will&nbsp;depart&nbsp;from the sense of&nbsp;security FFVII Rebirth offered and put players under \u201ctension\u201d to make crucial decisions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Final Fantasy VII Revelation is scheduled to release in Spring 2027 for PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox on PC), Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X\u2758S.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/final-fantasy-7-revelations-open-world-evolves-another-step-beyond-rebirth-director-naoki-hamaguchi-on-map-design-player-freedom-and-new-battle-systems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Final Fantasy\u00a07\u00a0Revelation\u2019s open world evolves another step beyond\u00a0Rebirth. Director Naoki Hamaguchi on map design, player\u00a0freedom,\u00a0and\u00a0new battle systems\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Final Fanntasy VII remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi talks about why FFVII Revelation&#8217;s emphasis on player choices matters in today&#8217;s gaming scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":68082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,17],"class_list":["post-68069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-final-fantasy","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Final Fantasy VII Revelation director says today\u2019s RPGs need more player agency because fans may be satisfied just watching streams\u00a0 - 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