The Twitch streamer Josh Strife Hayes skipped the cutscenes in the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. Scandal! But he has a good explanation.
This was the situation: The MMORPG streamer Josh Strife Hayes was adventuring in Final Fantasy XIV in April 2026. However, he committed a gaming sin: He skipped the cutscenes. Yet the story is one of the major strengths of the MMORPG.
In a stream from early June, Josh Strife Hayes talked about the decision. He explains that he cannot really focus on the story while streaming. For that, he would have to watch the cutscenes silently, and that isn’t entertaining for the viewers.
A fan assures him: The viewers would consent to follow the storyline. As long as he feels comfortable with it, he could watch the cutscenes silently – but according to Josh Strife Hayes, that’s not true.
It’s all a matter of balance
What is the lie? These are exactly the kinds of sentences that Twitch streamers repeatedly hear from their fans: Play what or how you like. We’re here for you, we watch you in everything. While individual people may mean this at the moment, numerically speaking, according to Josh Strife Hayes, that simply isn’t true: As soon as you stop talking, you lose thousands of viewers.
If someone enters the stream who likes the YouTube videos but isn’t interested in Final Fantasy XIV, and is confronted with a 7-minute cutscene and a silent streamer, that person would simply leave.
The content creator explains: When streaming, it’s about finding a balance between what you enjoy and what the viewers want to see. If you focus too much on one, you burn out quickly.
Is he alone in this? Not at all. In the past, several Twitch streamers have commented on the dilemma. Papaplatte already explained in 2023 that German streamers are genuinely afraid of showing gaming, as they would immediately lose viewers if they left the “Just Chatting” category.
Especially for smaller streamers, this can be crucial for who can pay their rent and who cannot. Larger streamers, on the other hand, can afford to say: I don’t care if WoW kills my channel.
What do you think? Do you skip cutscenes or is that a complete no-go for you? Let us know in the comments.
Recently, a similar topic was also discussed in Gronkh’s stream. He decided to show fewer reactions in the future, even though these are extremely popular on Twitch and are considered a real money cheat. Instead, he wants to focus more on gaming content again.
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