Naoki Hamaguchi, the director steering the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy to its close with Revelation, has identified a quiet threat to RPGs: the rise of streams turning players into passive spectators. In a 4Gamer interview, he warned that linear experiences risk leaving viewers satisfied after watching someone else's playthrough, a dynamic he called "a bit of a crisis for the work itself" that developers cannot wholeheartedly celebrate.

Hamaguchi stresses the need for genuine player agency to counter this. If an RPG offers little room for personal decisions, the experience becomes identical for everyone, making a stream a perfect substitute. Revelation aims to fix that with more meaningful choices that can shift progression, storytelling direction, and even how characters are perceived, though the core ending stays fixed. Side content will vary enough that no single run captures everything, pushing players to experiment rather than spectate.

The director acknowledges streams' promotional value but insists games must spark the thought "What would I do in that situation?" to drive actual purchases and playtime. In an era where watching often replaces doing, RPGs without that hook court irrelevance, and Hamaguchi's comments read as both diagnosis and design mandate for the trilogy's finale.