Final Fantasy 14 Director Naoki Yoshida Says Developing An MMO And FF16 Isn’t As Different As You Think

Final Fantasy XVI is the latest mainline single-player Final Fantasy video game, which I was able to preview recently on PlayStation 5. Here are my thoughts after playing with the game for approximately two hours. But during this preview, I was also able to participate in a group interview of FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida, the game’s director Hiroshi Takai, and its combat director Ryota Suzuki. 

One facet of FFXVI’s development I was especially interested in is how Creative Business Unit III, the internal studio behind the upcoming game, is able to balance creating this new title while continuing to develop its extremely successful MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. Yoshida, who is FFXIV’s producer and director, says it’s not as different as you might think. 

“It’s probably not as different as you’d expect creating an ongoing [game like FFXIV] as well as a standalone game because for Final Fantasy XIV, if you look at the original A Realm Reborn and our expansions, they are all stories that have beginnings, middles, and ends,” Yoshida says through a translator. 

However, he says that one thing is distinct is that when developing an MMO you must create the hook to tell the next story. 

“You don’t have to do that in Final Fantasy XVI,” Yoshida continues. “If we wanted, we could put a hook in there that gets you excited for maybe future content or something like that. But again, that wasn’t our aim with Final Fantasy XVI. The goal of Final Fantasy XVI was to make a story that both had a beginning as well as an end. The main focus was on [protagonist] Clive’s life and so rather than the story being broader, we are focused on him. That’s not to mean that it’s not as deep as well, because we are so focused that we get a deep look into the entirety of Clive’s life.” 

Yoshida, who was presenting FFXVI to me before I got hands-on, explained that Clive will be playing the game in his teens, 20s and 30s. Clive’s younger brother, Joshua, is a Dominant, meaning he can tap into the power of an Eikon, which is what FFXVI calls summons like Ifrit and Garuda. It seems the relationship between Clive and Joshua is at the heart of the game’s story. Yoshida mentioned during this preview that Clive’s story is centered on revenge and its effects on people. Takai says the game will end with a sense of closure, too, unlike an MMO that must tee up what’s next for the game. 

I was also curious how Yoshida feels about Creative Business Unit III competing against itself with Final Fantasy XVI, considering it’s the same studio that develops FFXIV, a truly beloved MMO. For Yoshida, that pressure doesn’t get in the way of the honor the team feels to have been asked to develop FFXVI. 

“When the company approached us to work on the next numbered Final Fantasy, we took that as an honor,” Yoshida says. “It’s something that wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t have the success of Final Fantasy XIV. We were able to achieve it because of that success. 

“And we knew right off the bat that it was going to be a very difficult thing. [The opportunity came]We were at a stage in Final Fantasy XIV’s development. And understanding that at the same time, to also create another game, that’s going to be very challenging. Final Fantasy XIV was the first priority. We made it a success and grew it until we were happy with its progress. And that’s why for so long, while XVI development was happening, it was happening with a very small team because we wanted to finish on XIV until we got to the point we wanted to get to.”

With development on the game nearing its end, Yoshida is excited that people are able to preview the title and go hands-on with it. 

“We’ve now hit a point where I can actually breathe a sigh of relief.”