Director of Final Fantasy XIV Naoki Yoshida has announced that he is working on a new game for the next-gen. The project is said to be quite large.
What was announced? Today, several reports regarding new projects by the company appeared on Square Enix’s official Japanese website. Among them was the announcement that the director of FFXIV, Naoki Yoshida, is working with his newly restructured division on a new major next-gen project.
In addition to the announcement of the new project led by Yoshida, a whole range of new job openings have also been announced. They cover all areas of game design:
- Level Development
- Motion Graphics, Cut Scene, and 3D Character Design
- Technical Artist
- Battle System Planner
- Up to Project Manager
According to Yoshida, the project has already left the “Early Development” phase and is now entering the intensive development phase.
What project could it be? The announcement of a new major next-gen project by Square Enix under the leadership of Naoki Yoshida has triggered various speculations among the fans.
From the job postings, it is hard to discern what type of game it will be. They don’t even reveal whether it will be a single or multiplayer.
However, Yoshida himself has often commented in the past about what he would like to do as a game developer in the future:
- In an interview with Polygon , he said that he “does not feel the urge to develop other games at all” because all new ideas can be realized in FFXIV. However, if Square Enix tasked him with developing another game, he would do it.
- At the FFXIV Fan Festival in Paris, Yoshida responded to a question about future FF titles. He said that he would like to incorporate more fantasy elements and less technology into the next FF game if he had the opportunity.
- In the same interview, he also said that a new Final Fantasy MMO is unlikely as long as FFXIV is doing financially well.
- To Gamespot, Yoshida said he would like to work on a battle royale game. He also has several ideas on how to make such a game fun and interesting.
Some even suspect that Yoshida might be working on Final Fantasy XVI, the next major title in the series. Whether he can manage that alongside his work on the MMORPG FFXIV is questionable.
Could it be an April Fools’ joke? However, many fans have also expressed doubts about the news, pointing to the date it was published. Additionally, the artwork used in the header of the announcement actually belongs to Final Fantasy XIV and is quite old.
However, it is unlikely that this is a joke from Square Enix.
The fiscal year in Japan always begins on April 1. Therefore, many Japanese companies choose this date to present new projects and future plans to their investors, as well as to announce job openings. It is thus a normal practice for larger announcements to be made on April 1.
In the future, it will show what exactly Director Yoshida has planned for the fans. Currently, he certainly has his hands full with the next expansion of FFXIV.
