Naoko Yoshida, the producer for the Final Fantasy series, says he believed the series is struggling. And he has the evidence to back it up.
“In terms of whether Final Fantasy is successfully adapting to industry trends, I believe the series is currently struggling. We’re now at a point where we receive a wide variety of requests regarding the direction of our game design. To be honest, it’d be impossible to satisfy all those requests with a single title. My current impression is that all we can really do is create multiple games, and continue creating the best that we can at any given time.”
Yoshida is alluding to Final Fantasy‘s recent game development history, which does not just include the project he most recently worked on, Final Fantasy XIV, but also the most recent numbered game in the series, Final Fantasy XV.
Final Fantasy XIV is exhibit one for Square Enix’s troubles with the Final Fantasy franchise. Originally released in 2010 for Windows and the PlayStation 3, the company failed to make an agreement with Microsoft on how the game would use Games for Windows Live would lead to a planned Xbox 360 port being canceled.
Final Fantasy XIV was beset with multiple problems before, during, and after release. Among its problems were struggles with the game engine Crystal Tools being unsuitable for the online subscription multiplayer project, launch issues with game performance and the user interface, and even the core game design faced criticism for being underdeveloped. This game would actually get canceled in 2010.
Enter Naoki Yoshida. Tasked with righting the ship, Yoshida made incremental improvements to Final Fantasy XIV prior to its cancellation and eventually would redeem the franchise with the much improved Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Originally released in 2013 for Windows and PlayStation 3, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn would go on to thrive for the next nine years, getting ported to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, going free-to-play, getting ported and fully integrated to Steam, and even making it to Mac OS.
Yoshida made sweeping changes, not only to the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn game itself, but how the game was produced, meaning significant company-wide changes to how they made the video games themselves. While that included many technical and business aspects, Yoshida recognized that also included improving communication with the fans. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn would continue to thrive through four expansions packs, ending with Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker published last year
Final Fantasy XV was not a Yoshida project, but the more recent exhibit of Square’s struggles with their signature franchise. Its development was also long in the tooth, announced in 2006 under Tetsuya Nomura and still called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In 2012, the project was moved to the eighth generation of consoles and delegated from Nomura to Hajime Tabata.
Under Tabata, the scale of the project would get considerably reduced, with some original aspects of the game and worldbuilding shifted to a mixed media spinoff project called Final Fantasy XV Universe. Final Fantasy XV was a commercially successful release and received overall positive reception. However, elements of its story and gameplay would face criticism. Much like Final Fantasy XIV, it’s believed most of the problems with Final Fantasy XV stem from its protracted development.
Today Yoshida is at work on Final Fantasy XVI, the next major numbered release in the franchise. Expectations are high that he will correct the problems stemming from the development of the last two games, and it’s helpful that he is realistic about how the franchise is currently viewed by the industry and its fans.
You can read our prior coverage about Final Fantasy and the next game in the series below.
Final Fantasy XVI Combat Might Not Be For Everyone
Source: Inverse
