During the Fan Festival 2021, the composer of Final Fantasy XIV announced on stage that he had been diagnosed with cancer and had been working from the hospital. The news sent shockwaves through the community and many players broke into tears.
This is what happened: Last weekend, the digital Fan Festival of Final Fantasy XIV took place. In a live stream spread over 2 days, new information about the expansion Endwalker was presented along with various panels for the fans.
Fan Festivals are absolute highlights for me and many other FFXIV players: You finally get information about new expansions, meet friends, and truly celebrate. And although the Fan Fest 2021 could only take place digitally, many players on reddit and social media were in good spirits and followed the streams.
When the Fan Fest ended and it was time for the closing speech, the beloved composer of FFXIV, Masayoshi Soken, briefly asked for a word. From his expression and the reaction of director Yoshida, I immediately realized that it was something very serious.
Soken then announced on stage that he had been diagnosed with cancer in March 2020 and had to stay in a hospital for 6 months for treatment. At his own request, he then made an agreement with director Naoki Yoshida and the leadership of SE that he would continue to work on music for FFXIV there. In his speech, he said:
[…] I didn’t want to just sit around and do nothing […] and that’s why we made a special arrangement while I was in the hospital. I received a lot of support from my sound team and spent those months fighting cancer.
The chemotherapy was very tough for me, both physically and mentally. So I worked hard during those months in the hospital. And we were finally able to release Patch 5.3 and the song “To the Edge” and the reactions of all players from around the world helped me to overcome cancer. […] My doctor allowed me to go to the Fan Fest because the cancer is now in almost complete remission. […]
Thereafter, Soken thanked everyone who supported him during the tough times: director Yoshida and the CEO of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda, and especially the players of FFXIV. He realized from this experience that video games can heal people.
You can watch the full speech here:
The developers cry on stage, the community cries with them
These were the reactions of the developers: Except for director Yoshida, only a handful of developers on the FFXIV team knew about Soken’s condition. The composer requested that his illness be kept a secret from the rest of the team to avoid burdening them. Accordingly, some developers reacted on stage just as surprised as we players did.
The head of the localization team and lore master Michael Christopher Koji Fox visibly struggled with tears during the translation, and his voice was broken. Scenario writer Natsuko Ishikawa tearfully said that she feels bad now for making Soken do so much work and let him write a lot of music. Soken responded:
It’s because you didn’t treat me any differently and gave me the same amount of work as everyone else. It made me feel like nothing changed, and that helped me get through it.
However, it hit director Yoshida the hardest. Even before the start of Soken’s speech, he turned away and tried to hold back tears. When it was then his turn to speak, he couldn’t take it anymore and broke down in tears.
He and Soken have been working together since Yoshida took over the failed project FFXIV. Soken was the first to support the director back then and encouraged him that the project could still be successful. They are best friends. On stage, Yoshida said, crying:
It was a very difficult decision to talk about it and to let him work from the hospital. But Soken said: “If I have nothing to do, then I have nothing to live for. So please, don’t change anything.”
It was hardest for him. He told us not to tell the development team anything. Even though he was in a lot of pain. And because of the coronavirus pandemic, no one could visit him. Why did he work so hard? […] He said: “The best medicine for my cancer is the cheers of the fans.”
Teardrops, Gratitude, and Declarations of Love
This is how the community reacted: During the speech, I witnessed in real-time how the Twitch chat with over 30,000 viewers escalated and the social media was flooded with astonished and sad posts from FFXIV players. Heart emojis were raining down. Many shared that they were crying, celebrated Soken, cheered him on, and expressed their love for him.
There were posts from people I follow, friends, acquaintances from the game, or simply unknown FFXIV players who had crossed into my feed through the algorithm. The volume of messages was incredible.
The Twitter hashtag #WelcomeBackSoken trended worldwide on Sunday, May 16, with over 40,000 tweets. The reddit thread with the news about Soken’s illness received almost 10,000 upvotes and is ranked number 1 in the top posts on the FFXIV subreddit (via reddit). Throughout the day, more and more threads with fan messages to Soken appeared there.
Players were amazed that Soken continued to work on the music for them from the hospital despite having cancer. Thousands sent their supportive tweets, declarations of love, and get-well wishes to his Twitter profile or commented in forums or on reddit.
Many posted photos of their encounters with Soken and wrote that he is the true Warrior of Light. Also, in the game, players gathered in cities or in party search to show their support for the beloved composer.
In the Twitch chat, thousands wrote “Welcome back Soken” 
The FFXIV subreddit was full of threads about Soken 
In the party search feature in-game, players showed their support
The creative minds in the community created countless fan arts of him alone or together with Yoshida as a sign of their gratitude for Soken’s music. The director of FFXIV’s open and emotional reaction deeply moved the fans.
This is how I felt: I openly admit: I cried like a baby during the speech. I have always experienced Soken as a very kind and cheerful person who spread good vibes everywhere, even before I started working at MeinMMO. Some of my best memories of Fan Festivals and gamescom are my encounters with him.
Music has always played a very important role in my life, and I deeply admire people like Soken who can compose such beautiful pieces for video games. His music has made my journey through FFXIV something special. In my review of Shadowbringers, Soken’s soundtrack held a special place.
I don’t know how many times I paused while playing just to listen a little to the melody in the area or to look up the name of the track on YouTube, like “Civilisations” or “Breaking Boundaries.” And I’m not alone in this. During the FFXIV concert in Dortmund 2018, half the hall cried when the music from the game was performed on stage by an orchestra.
Therefore, it wasn’t easy to watch his speech again to write this article. But it was also wonderful to see how positively the community reacted. The incredible reactions cannot be contained in one article.
I sincerely wish Soken to defeat cancer once and for all.
The most popular bard of Final Fantasy XIV
This is why Soken is so popular: The huge popularity of the composer among FFXIV players has various reasons, the biggest of which is undoubtedly his music. The Final Fantasy franchise has always placed a very high value on high-quality soundtracks.
Many pieces from FF games, such as “One Winged Angel” or “To Zanarkand,” have achieved a nearly legendary status among gamers. FFXIV is no exception, and a very large part of the music came from Masayoshi Soken.
The style of tracks for the MMORPG is very diverse, but the composer himself prefers rock pieces that he composes for his band, Primals. These songs are played on stage during the Fan Festivals, and it gets really rocking. These concerts are for many the highlight of the Fan Festivals because they can celebrate with their friends there.
One of my favorite memories from the concert at the Fan Fest 2015 in Frankfurt am Main was the piece “Rise” for the boss battle against Alexander. In it, the Primals replicated a time stop mechanic from the fight by briefly stopping playing and remaining still. The crowd just exploded.
Moreover, Soken is also loved for his funny and easy-going nature among players. He is never shy of a joke, enjoys dressing up in funny costumes, and generally tries to bring laughter to the community whenever he can.
His Fan Fest speech and the fact that he worked from the hospital for 6 months to ensure that players received their content update on time just hurt.
Many in the community already knew beforehand that he puts a lot of effort into his work and always gives 120%. That he continued to work during chemotherapy is just incredible.
You can learn more about Masayoshi Soken’s career in our interview with him:
Interview: From chemistry studies to Final Fantasy XIV music record
