The head of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, has commented on WoW Classic. How does he assess the influence of the game? What is FF14 doing to survive, and what does he think about a Final Fantasy XIV Classic?
Who is speaking? In an interview with the website PCGamesN is the head of Final Fantasy 14: Director and Producer, Naoki Yoshida. He has been cultishly revered since he took over the reins of the MMORPG and was able to reshape the fate of what was already a failed FF14.
This is what Yoshida says about WoW Classic:
“WoW Classic is not a competitor for FFXIV. The real rival is World of Warcraft itself. The structure is more like World of Warcraft than WoW Classic.”
MMOs need regular new content – and quickly
This is the most important thing about MMOs today: According to Yoshida, only a handful of MMOs have survived. There is a reason for that:
“What is most important to survive in the competition is to release content as quickly as possible, provide a large amount of content, and this must happen regularly. Those are the three points you need to offer to survive. You might think that would be easy, but it is not, because there are not that many games that succeed in doing that.”
Final Fantasy XIV looks at itself, remains true to itself
According to Yoshida, this is indeed their strategy to survive, to protect Final Fantasy XIV and compete with others:
“We don’t pay much attention to others – we continue in the way we have always done.”
What does Yoshida think about FF14 Classic? Yoshida does not think much of a 1.0 version of his own MMORPG.
When asked about it once, he made a face, shook his head, laughed, and said the English word “Nightmare”.
Yoshida therefore seems to have no worries that WoW Classic will steal players from him, as it is expanded but not really supplied with “new content”.
The original version of Final Fantasy XIV was considered catastrophic at that time.
The secret recipe for the success of Final Fantasy XIV
This is what it’s about: What Yoshida says about their own way of competing in the MMO market is exactly the tactic that can be read as the success recipe from the development of Final Fantasy XIV:
- Regular content updates in a close time frame – FF14 patches approximately quarterly
- Extensive updates with a clear structure
- Updates that ideally offer something for all players
Final Fantasy XIV is even more meticulous in expanding the content than WoW, which repeatedly takes longer content breaks and thinks more from expansion to expansion. But even with WoW, so much new content has come over the years.
Therefore, it is also very difficult for new MMORPGs to compete with the big players. Games like FF14 or WoW, which have been expanded for years, have amassed huge amounts of content.
Yoshida therefore seems to have no worries that WoW Classic will steal players from him, as it is expanded but not really supplied with “new content”.
