During a time where numerous in-person jobs and careers were lost due to the pandemic, actors in particular were hit especially hard by the ongoing global health crisis. Numerous film, stage, and television productions were shutdown or postponed indefinitely, paired with a heightened uncertainty of when things would ever return to normal. Video games and voice actors were affected by this too, with titles like Persona 5 Strikers having to record its entire voice cast remotely. That same struggle was felt by Briana White, the actor behind Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Aerith Gainsborough, but she persevered in the best way she knew how: content creation.
As a bright light during a very dark time for many, Final Fantasy 7 Remake had released just after the pandemic and sheltering-in-place had swept through the United States. After PAX East 2020, White had returned to her home state of California after numerous in-person conventions and pressers for Final Fantasy 7 Remake were cancelled for the rest of the year. That's when she had decided to double down on her content creation, as other opportunities in her acting career were no longer safe to pursue. In an interview with Game Rant, Briana White described her reaction to the outpouring of fans supporting her content throughout the pandemic into 2021.
Many Found Solace in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Aerith Included
Video games, at least at first, seemed to be one of the very few entertainment industries that was perceived to be immune to the effects of the pandemic. As theater stock plummeted, numerous stock prices for companies like Activision Blizzard were surging in reaction to huge boosts in player activity across all platforms. Video game sales soared, especially for games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which many flocked to as a proper escape from the reality of the pandemic and quarantine. Final Fantasy 7 Remake ended up becoming one of those games as well, not only for fans who'd been waiting almost a decade, but for many new players jumping in as well.
Just as much as the fans were grateful for this game not to be delayed, as many subsequent upcoming games from various publishers had been, Briana White was also excited to get her hands on the game.
"In a very general sense, I could not be more grateful that Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out when it did, because I am a content creator and a streamer as well. Being able to occupy my brain and my heart with something so rewarding and fulfilling as streaming a game that I play a voice in was just the perfect distraction."
Strange Rebel Gaming Thrived Alongside Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Briana White embodies one of gaming's most iconic female leads: Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Aerith. Masterfully living up to the legacy of the original character, White received huge praise on the game's release for her portrayal of the last of the Ancients. Plenty of fans made that especially clear to White, especially with the outpouring of support they had shown to her social media, Strange Rebel Gaming YouTube channel, and especially in her Strange Rebel Gaming Twitch streams. She'd amassed an impressive following on YouTube and Twitch prior to Final Fantasy 7 Remake fame, but the outpouring of support from Final Fantasy fans was unimaginable.
"I have to be honest. It was a little... [laughs] 'a little.' It was very overwhelming, and I would turn the stream off, and I would have to just close my eyes and breathe, and just remind myself that it's okay that all these people feel so much love for the game, for the character, and for my work and want to support me."
White's YouTube channel and content creation brand, "Strange Rebel Gaming," saw a pretty sizable boost in engagement when she made her first announcement of her role as Aerith in Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Prior to her Aerith casting announcement, Strange Rebel Gaming had already amassed around 100,000 subscribers, but that number boosted to 150,000 subscribers shortly after that video was published. Now, the Strange Rebel Gaming YouTube channel is just about to crest 200,000 subscribers. As for Twitch, her follower count ballooned from around 10,000 followers, to over 63,000 followers as of this writing.
"You know, with Final Fantasy 7 Remake, I wanna say it took over, but it's not like it wasn't exactly the right thing to do. It's not like it wasn't the best possible situation for me, because it really perfectly blended my loves, my passions. Me being able to voice a video game, to act in a video game, [blended] the two things that I was doing for the past five years. I had been acting on one hand, content creating on the other hand, in video games... It almost felt like a culmination, like it was the inevitable outcome of the two things that I was doing, in sort of a... Perfectly faded kind of way."
Of course, even with content creation on the side, White had to essentially cast aside her career for an entire year because of the pandemic. As a career actor who's had over five years of on-camera experience, Strange Rebel Gaming was able to keep Briana White sane and working hard during the pandemic.
"Acting is my career, and pretty much all on-camera work took a really long pause when the pandemic started. I actually hadn't had an in-person audition for an entire year until just last week... So I'm really glad that streaming kicked off and was able to pick up the slack. I like to stay busy, I like to work hard, so it was good to have something to focus on."
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now on PS4.