While streaming and uploading footage of video games online has become a common practice nowadays, not every company is necessarily thrilled about it. For example, a number of Japanese companies like Arc System Works and Atlus have released special recording and streaming guidelines for their new releases.
In 2017, Nintendo even went to the extent of ruling out live streaming of its games on YouTube. Fortunately, it ended up replacing this program with new guidelines early last year. As the company slowly begins to warm up to the idea of its game footage being shared online by creators, the famous Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has recently shared his own thoughts about players uploading gameplay videos.
The response comes from his recent 12-page Famitsu interview, and was translated by BlackKite (via Japanese Nintendo):
I think it’s good that there’s a variety of ways to enjoy things. In the ROM era, we preferred to have [customers] play for a long time with materials created with very miniscule memory without publicising them. At that time, it would be problematic if the whole game content were to be revealed. But it is now an era where customers that bought [the games] publish videos broadly, and I think that may pique interest about those games to other people who watch it. I think I would also watch walkthrough videos of [games] made by someone else. Honestly, I don’t want to watch my own [games], but if it’s made by someone else it should still be okay.
As Miyamoto explains, sharing gameplay footage online can obviously help pique interest in certain titles. It's also a great way to see a walkthrough of a video game. When Nintendo relaxed its content creator guidelines last year, the global head of YouTube said the video platform was glad to see the company take a "big step forward" and that it was a testament to what the power of creators can do.
What do you think about Miyamoto's response? Does Nintendo need to do more? Share your thoughts below.
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments (35)
What year is this lol?
Better late than never. It's free advertising for them.
"In the ROM era"
Switch uses ROM.
I don't watch Let's Plays regularly, but they're the second-best thing to a demo to get a feel for a game and video walkthroughs are great if you're stuck.
Next step fangames
Yeah, I hate Atlus for it, they're such a silly company. I refuse to buy anything from them.
I don't make any money off my videos (my channel is a ghost town anyways), so whatever...I still like uploading whatever I like. It's fun, even if not many people watch them. TwT
My mum gave Luigi's Mansion 3 to my nephew for Xmas but he's not been playing it much as he already watched all the best bits on YouTube. When I was playing Mario Odyssey with him last year, he kept telling me what was about to happen and it was doing my head in. I know I'm old and probably losing touch with the young ones but I just don't understand the appeal of watching a game being played by someone else before you play it yourself. Especially with games like Luigi's Mansion and Mario where the surprises are such a big part of the experience.
I limit myself to reviews, trailers and the occasional demo. But again, I'm old, over the hill and far away.
@OorWullie Never understood it either. I was unfortunate to come across a thumbnail showing the final boss of a game that wasn't released yet in the suggestions bar; and then there were morons who say "then don't click on the video".
I mostly play videos in background for the ambiance; not to be spoiled by some video in the suggestions.
That 12 page Famitsu article is gonna supply Nintendolife articles for weeks 😂
@OorWullie me too. I don't understand whats the point of watching a Let's Play unless its a walkthrough.......... or its a game which you don't have time to play. I sometimes recommend people who aren't that much gamers to watch a Xenoblade playthrough so they can enjoy the story.
@mesome713 your comments are often very random and incredibly toxic at their worst. Could you be more mindful and refrain from posting so much in the future?
@RobotReptile xD
I’ll expand on Miyamoto’s line of thinking
Before the last generation, most video games were FAR more linear. Everyone who played a game was more or less going to experience the same thing. However, you could very well experience close to the same thing by just watching someone else play, and save the money. All the while, the player gets paid for just popping in a game while Nintendo, who invested hundreds of millions to make the experience possible, gets nothing AND loses a sale. I disagreed with their old policy, but I understood.
However, games have evolved in the past 3 years. Worlds are vast and open now. Any one mission can be played or completed a thousand different ways. When the experiences are infinite instead of linear and limited, its hard not to encourage someone to share it. Miyamoto probably saw this with Breath of the Wild. That game will be played for the next 30 years, and new things will be found all along the way. If we couldn’t share it, would the game ever really be completed? That’s the magic I think Miyamoto has opened up to
But if we weren't allowed to upload some of us would have a hardtime with a walkthrough.. don't forget.. they hardly sell any guides anymore. In the past you could buy a book as well for long games so you had always a guide how to finish a quest or getting secret items.. These videos, especially walkthroughs, are great and I love the reviews from gamers themself.. it's better IMO. No one got paid to review it so its better
@OorWullie same here, i never have understood it and i probably never will
i also have a similar story with my niece, i was playing a game that i got a little late and my brother was round my house with his kids and while i was playing she started to say how she had already seen this on youtube and she was about to blert out what was going to happen when i said to her that if she said one more word about it then she would never be allowed to speak in my house again
she soon shut up and hasn't done it since
This is historic. One of the bigwigs at Nintendo of Japan (who was notorious for having videos of their games taken down, even if other branches of Nintendo were fine with it) has come out and said that he is fine with people uploading videos of their games.
And I am glad that he recognizes that such videos will actually have people go out and buy the games for themselves. After all, I would never have bought quite a few of the games in my library had it not been for such videos.
@OorWullie I hate watching other people play games I want to play. My kids however do that same thing. I'm sure my youngest already knew most of the bosses in Luigis Mansion but that didn't stop him from beating it nearly twice.
I only watch gameplay videos to help me understand a game I'm considering buying, but I would never purposely spoil big moments in a game for myself.
@fafonio I watch a lot of Let's Plays, but mostly for games on platforms that I don't have, games I'd rather not buy, but are still interested in, and games that I can't afford. And I watch a lot of Let's Plays of games I have already played to watch and gauge the reactions to certain elements of the game or story and compare it to my experience. That's why I like Let's Plays.
I watch Let's Plays of games I know I'm not able to get. For example with Spiderman PS4 and Jedi Fallen Order. I didn't own the consoles to play those games so I watched a Lets Play instead.
@OorWullie. I do it because i want to know as much as I can about the game before I play it
@OorWullie Don't know how old you are, but in my day (NES days) it was pretty standard practice to sit around and watch people play games, because there were so many great games that were not simultaneous multiplayer. Super Mario Bros. as an obvious example (as two player was still waiting turns); Mega Man, TMNT, Castlevania, as a few more. When player one got a game over, you'd hand the controller over. In the SNES or Gamecube days I used to show off games that friends had never seen or played, and they'd like to.
I know this is different to the YouTube era of watching videos, but in so many ways, it's kind of similar to sitting and watching a friend play through a game as you get a sense of it. Or in those old days, often the case was that you could only get so far in a game, but someone else could beat the game. Everyone would freak out when someone finally beat it. Did no one else ever sit and watch their parent or an older sibling play a game because you were just no good?
This is why I find GameCenter CX so appealing. It really is just sitting and watching someone play through a game, someone who really isn't that good at games, but watching someone persevere and struggle through an old NES game is fun. Especially because these days, most of us would never persist on a game that we feel stuck on. Maybe 15 minutes of dying over and over on the same level and having to start at the beginning and we'd probably give up. The Kacho once spent something like 10 hours on a single level and eventually succeeded. I mean... You didn't have to watch all 10 hours of that - it was edited.
Aside from that, my main reason for watching videos of newer games today is because I just don't have the time to play every game I'm interested in. So sometimes it is just easier and faster to watch a quick playthrough of a game to get the story or sense of how it worked.
@Spoony_Tech yeh same mate.. i still do not understand why people watch streams. Walkthrus are different but watching someone play either something for the first time or something i have already finished i just do not get it. People can watch other ppl play for hours.. its bizarre to me
@Nitwit13 yeh but watching someone play you ususlly do not know who cant hear your or sometimes interacts with a text msg you add is very very different to playing couch co op where we are all friends and all working together and all having ago. Im 37 and i do not think age makes a difference because i still play games with my kids and we have an absolute blast
@OorWullie this is just the type of comment you shake your head at and go "okay boomer"
@OorWullie
It can be helpful if your stuck in a puzzle, or need a different technique to power you through a tough boss or level because your own isn't working.
Well, that's quite a turnaround from their attitude before. 😯 I'm puzzled as to what's caused this, but I can respect when someone admits they were in the wrong.
@FullbringIchigo
😆
@Nitwit13 That is a good point.
Just not the idiots that scream over the top of them pretending to have fun
I think comments like these, show that Miyamoto isn't as out of touch as some people paint him as. Sure, he can be very set in his ways on how he views games. But he's not the old fart with too much power the media likes to paint him as.
Yeah it’s fine, but there are definitely people content to just watch a game and not buy it, who may actually buy and play it themselves if that was the only way to see it. Overall it probably helps promote the game though.
@Nitwit13 There is room for both points. (Yours and the one you’re responding to.)
Sometime... oftentimes you want to experience a game fresh for yourself, surprises intact. Many of my favorite memories are experiencing games like Mario 64 and Wind Waker for the first time. That said, I also had fun playing through old (1 player) NES/SNES games with friends... though I think in those cases the games were so hard that it was just fun to see someone get a few “screens” or beat a crazy boss... it’s a little different from a modern 3D adventure... I guess that’s what I’m adding to this discussion. You can enjoy both types of experiences, and the type of game will likely make a big difference for most people as to how many spoilers they can handle, and how much “back-seat-gaming” is fun or not... 🤔
Tell that to your bosses, Miyamoto!
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