Speaking in a new interview with Japanese publication 4Gamer, Naoki Yoshida talked about the series’ reputation among the younger generation of players, highlighting how the long development times have made it so that no entry in the series has been released when this younger generation’s adolescence, thus making other series more popular. In addition, the original Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XV have definitely left a bad impression, and have impacted the series’ reputation. The first had a disastrous launch that required a relaunching, while the second is felt to have been released as an incomplete game. Being in charge of the development of Final Fantasy XVI, Naoki Yoshida had to take this into consideration, wanting to show how a different Final Fantasy is definitely possible by not repeating past mistakes. Some players, as highlighted by Yoshida himself in the interview, won’t be easy to convince, as they feel like the next entry in the series will be just like the previous one, but the Producer and the development team are determined to make a game that will make people think that the series, as a whole, is awesome. In other news, Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed plenty of new details on the highly anticipated game, confirming it will not be an open-world game, that AI companions will join Clive in battle, and more. Final Fantasy XVI launches sometime during Summer 2023 on PlayStation 5. No other version of the game has been confirmed so far.
