Naoki Yoshida Would Rather Work On Final Fantasy 14 Than Continue Final Fantasy 16

Speaking to former Sony Interactive Entertainment President Shuhei Yoshida on the AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook Podcast, Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida talks about the future of the series. Yoshida-san mentions that after finishing up work on the game’s DLC, the team would like to focus their work on Final Fantasy 14 rather than continue working on additional content for 16. 

The exact conversation can be found at the 1 hour and 1 minute mark. 

Yoshida-san says that the team at Creative Business Unit III wants to put their expertise from working for Final Fantasy 16 into a different game. 

There are a lot of people who love XVI, and they’ve been telling us they want more of it to play, so we are developing DLC right now. But for us — Creative Business Unit III — we really want to further develop XIV, and perhaps put the experience we had cultivated while making XVI to use on a different game too.”

When asked if Yoshida-san would play a major role in Final Fantasy 17, he avoids the question but mentions that he would like future Final Fantasy projects to be made by someone younger. When asked if there’s any piece of advice he would give to anyone working on the series, Yoshida-san says that to come up with an idea that would make the most enjoyable FF for the director working on it. 

He also says that he wants Square Enix to use its experience working on action titles such as Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake to continue challenging itself in the action genre and make something that the company hasn’t made before. 

But having come this far, I’d like to see Square Enix use this gained experience to continue challenging ourselves in the action genre, to make what we haven’t made yet, with even greater storytelling emotion and impact.

Final Fantasy 16 was released last year on June 22 for the PlayStation 5 to critical acclaim from players and critics alike. The game garnered praise for its spectacle-heavy boss fights, satisfying Devil May Cry-inspired combat, and dark, mature story. eXputer’s Moiz Banoori scored the game a 5/5, stating that “Final Fantasy 16 redefines the series with a new twist on the gameplay system and a dark narrative that will keep you engaged throughout.”

I myself was lucky enough to play it at launch and considered it the coolest game of 2023, which is something I still stand by pretty strongly. A PC port of the game is currently in development with an unannounced release date. 

Thanks to fan demand, FF16 is also getting multiple paid DLCs. Two DLCs have been announced for the game, the first of which came out on December 11 last year, while the second DLC is planned to release in Spring this year. The newest entry in the series, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is also coming along well with a February 29 release date for the PlayStation 5.