The debate surrounding whether video game streamers should pay royalties to respective developers and publishers has been around for the better half of a decade.

Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, posted a thread of tweets breaking down his views surrounding streamers and whether business licenses for games should be introduced.

Hutchinson believes that streamers generate revenue from games they've either obtained for free or very little money, motivating his stance that content creators owe game developers a cut.

The real truth is the streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream.

"The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google," said the company in a statement to 9to5Google.

Hartman explains that most stream viewers are now watching the content for entertainment rather than purchasing advice, which has resulted in fewer sales from streams outside of the obvious viral outliers (like Among Us and Phasmophobia this year).

Despite that, Hartman still believes that it's a vital part of the industry but expects there to be a deal in the future that benefits both streamers and developers alike.

Hartman mentions that around six years ago, the landscape was different--streamers directly influenced many games' sales in a tangible way!

The developer of the heartfelt narrative adventure That Dragon, Cancer wrote in 2016 that he felt streaming had negatively impacted sales of the game!