UPDATE
Do you wish the game had gotten its DLC? What would you have wished it had been like? Let us know below!
ORIGINAL STORY
It’s fair to say that not every entry in a series will be popular. And when you look at Square and its beloved RPG franchise, you can easily look at a few titles and go, “Those aren’t the best.” Heck, they did two attempts at an MMO and only got one of them right! But with Final Fantasy XV, you’re looking at a game that is either “good” in gamers’ eyes, or they didn’t like it that much. The “middle ground” is rather hard to find, and that influenced Square Enix heavily despite how well it did after its launch.
On the one hand, Final Fantasy XV sold over 10 million copies between all the systems it was on. That should be praised, and certain recent entries haven’t come close to that. However, when you look at how well people enjoyed it, that’s a different story. The game’s story was good and got very emotional at the end in some players’ minds. But when it came to the gameplay and driving around everywhere? It got old quickly at points.
Plus, it didn’t help that Square Enix had a bunch of “side stories” and content that were meant to help build everything up but led to things being more convoluted than they needed to be. That’s why it was meant to have a whole set of DLCs that would help connect things and ensure that the full story was told. The problem? Square Enix canceled three of the four, and that still affects the game’s director to this day.
Hajime Tabata talked with 4Gamer about this and he said simply: “I still regret it to this day.”
He also made it clear that Square Enix made the call to cancel the DLC, not him.
“I was depressed at the time because I couldn’t stop it.”
He would later leave the company, and he’s been working on RPGs with others since. But clearly this still haunts him.
As for Square Enix, they took a long, hard look at themselves and their franchise and tried to change things so that their franchise wouldn’t keep “treading water” but instead bounce back like the days of old. On the one hand, their 16th mainline entry in the series was a hit on PS5, but they lost a lot of money due to not matching up to other releases.
On the other hand, the upcoming second part of the 7th entries’ remake saga is one of the most anticipated games of 2024, and that’s something to be proud of.
