Square Enix Considers Dropping Numbers From Final Fantasy Game Titles

Final Fantasy is a massive franchise and one that spans decades-long in terms of its releases. Over the years, we have embarked on several grand adventures that featured iconic characters, storylines, and iconic gameplay mechanics. However, for some newcomers to the franchise, seeing a title like Final Fantasy XVI might put them off from picking the game up.

Recently, Naoki Yoshida, who is the producer for Final Fantasy XVI, spoke with GQ. During their conversation, the topic of the game title came up. It was asked that the game titles with numbers might be difficult. According to Yoshida, that is something they have gotten used to with the franchise. Yoshida compares the numbered titles to comic books as, typically, a reader has to go through the series by starting at the first issue. So when new Final Fantasy games are released, Yoshida says the developers have to consistently tell players that they don’t have to play the past games to pick up the latest release.

Of course, that has sparked some questions on whether Final Fantasy could work out just as well if the studio opted to just drop the numbers entirely for the mainline series. Apparently, that is something Yoshida has brought up to the higher-ups. This could allow some of the confusion to drop rather than having to consistently repeat themselves so that players don’t have to go through the entire back catalog of Final Fantasy games to enjoy the latest installment.

That’s actually something that I’ve discussed with the higher-ups. Maybe it’s about time we removed the numbers from the title. For example, you have Final Fantasy 14. You get a new player coming in and it’s like, “Wait a minute, why do I have to play Final Fantasy 14 if 16 is out?” Why don’t we just call it Final Fantasy Online – just get rid of the number altogether, and that’ll make it easier to understand. Whether Final Fantasy 17 or Final Fantasy 18 should have a number or not – that’s going to be on whoever has to develop that game and whoever’s in charge of the branding, so that’s their problem, not ours!

Naoki Yoshida – GQ

However, at the end of the day, Yoshida says it’s not up to him. Instead, it’s whoever is handling the branding, and whether Final Fantasy continues to use numbers or changes it up won’t be his problem. Instead, it will just go to whoever is handling those projects. So it seems that Square Enix is at least considering the drop in Final Fantasy numbers for their upcoming games, but only time will tell if they go that route. 

Currently, Final Fantasy XVI is set to launch on June 22, 2023. When the game releases, you’ll find it available on PlayStation 5 as it has a timed exclusive deal. In the meantime, you can check out the game trailer for Final Fantasy XVI in the video we have embedded above.