Producer Naoki Yoshida Admits Final Fantasy Has Trouble Adapting To Trends And Expectations

Despite the fact that Final Fantasy XIV is the most profitable game in the saga and Final Fantasy VII Remake has managed to sell more than 5 million units, Naoki Yoshida, producer of the franchise owned by Square Enix, has acknowledged in an interview with reverse that Final Fantasy has trouble adapting to the trends of the video game industry and meeting the expectations of the players. Yoshida admits that they can’t please everyone with one title, so it’s best to develop several.

“As for whether Final Fantasy has managed to successfully adapt to industry trends, I think the series currently has problems,” Naoki Yoshida tells Inverse. “We are at a point where we are receiving a wide variety of requests regarding the design direction of our game. To be honest, it is impossible to satisfy all those demands with a single title. My impression is that the only thing we can do is create several games and continue to do the best we can at all times.

Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi-P, has been working for Square Enix for 18 years and during this time he has participated in multiple company titles. On his resume there is a project that stands out above the rest: Final Fantasy XIV. Yoshida took the helm of the game after its disappointing launch and under his direction the title was revived until it could stand up to World of Warcraft, an MMO that has buried countless rivals. The success of Endwalker, the latest expansion, even forced sales to be suspended.

For Yoshida, Final Fantasy shouldn’t go after trends, but rather move forward to establish them. This is not always possible, but the producer has already manifested this will in Final Fantasy XIV, a title whose persistent world has experimented with new forms of storytelling. On the other hand, Yoshida is the producer of Final Fantasy XVI, a game that he has opted for real-time combat to attract a younger audience. This time a trend is not established, but the team adapts to it.

Regarding the development of different Final Fantasy titles to cover various fronts, Square Enix is ​​trying. We have the Chocobo GP races, the Pixel Remaster series, the spin off Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, the battle royale Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier and Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. To these projects we must add Final Fantasy XIV, a title that if it were up to Yoshida would last for decades, and the next releases, including the Crisis Core remaster: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Final Fantasy XVI.