Aside from the Nier series’ creator Yoko Taro and Tetsuya Nomura of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, it seems no other Square Enix video game director or producer shares the same popularity as that of Final Fantasy 14’s Naoki Yoshida. Fondly called “Yoshi-P” by fans and players, Yoshida recently gave an in-depth interview in which he talks about Square Enix's and his predictions that FF14 may continue running online for at least five more years.

With Final Fantasy 14’s next expansion Endwalker just recently announced, fans are likely very excited to learn more about what is in store for the MMORPG. With only a short trailer and some official information to go on, interviews with the development team on the future of Final Fantasy 14 are probably anticipated and well-received by fans around the world.

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In the interview, Yoshida talks about Square Enix's goals and the team's development process for Final Fantasy 14. With the MMO hitting a 20 million playerbase worldwide across several platforms, Square Enix is pushing the team to move forward until the game reaches 30 million players. The company, along with Yoshida, also foresees that the title will keep running for at least half a decade more, given how fast and consistent the fanbase is growing. Yoshida reiterates this, saying that as long as people keep returning to the game, Final Fantasy 14 may never reach the end of its life cycle.

Yoshida also shares some snippets of the team's development process behind the game's continuous content, be it for the title's main narratives or Final Fantasy 14's cycling seasonal activities. Each piece of content that is announced for the game is already expected to be at least 60-70% complete, with the remaining percentage meant to fine-tune or focus on new features that will prevent player fatigue or boredom. Yoshida shares that from concept to approvals and programming, every step is already very well-planned, meaning most of the team's resources have already been allocated.

With such a rigorous production process, Yoshida says that expanding the game into other platforms may be out of the question. This means Final Fantasy 14 will not be released on Xbox or other gaming platforms any time soon. However, this type of quality assurance within the game's production has likely been a huge factor in making FF14 one of the best modern MMOs to play.

As Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker launches in 2021, fans are likely curious how Yoshida will continue managing the MMO's content. Considering he also plays a big part in Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16, players are hopeful that he brings the same kind of quality and integrity into the upcoming RPG.

Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC and PS4, with PS5 support coming in 2021.

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Source: Washington Post