The director of Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, is one of the most popular developers in Japan. He now officially appears as a character template in the action game Nioh 2.
Nioh 2 is an action game by the Japanese developer Team Ninja and seemingly has nothing to do with Final Fantasy XIV.
How did Yoshida get into the game? Some time ago, Team Ninja held a competition for their game, where fans could submit suggestions for character templates in Nioh 2. They had to put a lot of effort into creating their characters and submit their best creations.
Yoshida in Nioh 2 
Naoki Yoshida
One of the submissions resembled the director of FFXIV, Naoki Yoshida, remarkably. One of Yoshida’s fans apparently tried to sneak his favorite developer into Nioh 2.
Team Ninja found the idea interesting. In a stream, the developers mentioned that they contacted Yoshida and officially asked for permission to use his face as a template in their game. He agreed.
So if you plan to play Nioh 2, you will have the option to wander the land as Naoki Yoshida and take down tough bosses with the lead developer of Final Fantasy XIV.
Until now, there was an official character model of Naoki Yoshida only in his own game, Final Fantasy XIV. There he appears either as the NPC Wandering Minstrel or directly as himself during the annual event “Festival of Rebirth” celebrating the reboot of FFXIV.
The Savior of Final Fantasy XIV
Why is Yoshida so popular? Yoshida has almost achieved legendary status in the gaming industry. In 2010, he was appointed to the top of the ruthlessly failed Final Fantasy XIV with the task of saving the MMORPG from final death.
He succeeded spectacularly, and FFXIV is now considered a success story like no other. The latest expansion Shadowbringers received much praise and landed as the only MMORPG in Metacritic’s Top 50 of 2019.
This incredible turnaround, regular communication with the community, and frequent appearances at various gaming conventions have earned Yoshida much respect and, above all, many fans. He is revered as the savior of Final Fantasy XIV.
For his fans, the developer is not “Director Yoshida,” but “Yoshi-P.” The suffix “Pe” has the meaning of “familiarity” in the Japanese language.
So when Yoshida refers to himself as “Yoshi-P” to the players, he expresses that he is not meeting them as the director of FFXIV. Rather, he is one of them, and that is well received.
Yoshida also maintains good relationships with gaming companies that are considered his competition. He is a big fan of Blizzard and has even received gifts from the WoW developer, congratulating him and the FFXIV team on the successful launch of the Shadowbringers expansion.
Yoshida also appears in these games: This is not the first time fans have recreated their favorite developer in other games.
Already at the release of Monster Hunter: World, Yoshida, Head Game Master Foxclon, and composer Masayoshi Soken were brought to life by the character creator in the game.
Some time later, fans had Yoshida fight in brutal battles in Soul Calibur 6 against other characters. However, he did not always come out as the winner.
So we can expect Yoshida to be recreated in various other games in the future.
