Final Fantasy Creator Explains Why The Name Was Chosen

The well-renowned franchise could have been called something else entirely.

By Shahmeer Sarfaraz July 12, 2023

Story Highlights

The Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi recently appeared in an interview and discussed the history behind the series’ name.
The name emerged from Square wanting to call it “FF” in short. The original name was meant to be Fighting Fantasy but could not be chosen because of the possible trademark disputes.

The Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi recently appeared in an interview over on YouTube and discussed many tidbits about the franchise. The interview was held in commemoration of the series’ 35th anniversary, featuring a “special roundtable with the original developers.” One of the biggest discussions in the interview dived into the history behind the name of the franchise.

Around the 8:24 mark in the thirty-minute video, the creator Hironobu Sakaguchi says the name Final Fantasy emerged from Square wanting to call it “FF” in short. The original name was meant to be Fighting Fantasy initially, but the name could not be chosen because of the possible trademark disputes. The hesitant decision to change the name of the series to Final Fantasy was made at the end as a last choice.

The interview also discusses the prominent urban legends surrounding the Final Fantasy name, such as the name having meanings like “the last dream.” The creator explains the hilarious story behind the meaning of the name; a primary school teacher had initially written the name “Final Fantasy” name on the whiteboard and explained to the class that it means “the ultimate illusion.”

The kids sent postcards to Hironobu Sakaguchi to ask if the meaning behind Final Fantasy is true. The creator decided to roll with it as soon as he saw the postcards.

There have been stories in the past that suggested the Final Fantasy name was chosen because of Square Enix having financial troubles. It was without authentic proof in the past and seems to have been debunked again in the interview.

Hironobu and other participating devs revealed plenty of secret stories in the interview concerning the creation of the franchise we know and love. The humble devs had a blast explaining the history behind the many facets of the series. Regardless, only a single part has been posted at the time of writing, and the next interview part will likely come out soon.

The franchise has performed wonderfully ever since its calm beginnings, with each new installment selling a million copies without much hassle these days. For instance, the recently released Final Fantasy 16 has recently sold upwards of three million copies in a short amount of time since launch. No doubt, the franchise is among the best-performing IPs for Square Enix.

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