One Of Gaming's Most Iconic Franchises Is "Struggling" Says Producer

There are very few RPG franchises out there that are as iconic or as impactful as Final Fantasy. The series will celebrate its 35th birthday this December, which I daresay probably makes it older than many people reading this, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down, with its sixteenth mainline title, Final Fantasy XVI, set to hit PS5 sometime next year.

Also coming soon is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - the next instalment in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy. Take a look at the trailer below.

Despite that though, the producer of the upcoming title, and director of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, Naoki Yoshida, has expressed in an interview that he believes the series is "struggling". Speaking to Inverse, he revealed that he thinks that satisfying all players’ mounting requests with one game would be “impossible”.

““In terms of whether Final Fantasy is successfully adapting to industry trends, I believe the series is currently struggling,” he said. “We’re now at a point where we receive a wide variety of requests regarding the direction of our game design. To be honest, it’d be impossible to satisfy all those requests with a single title.

“My current impression is that all we can really do is create multiple games, and continue creating the best that we can at any given time.”

As for Yoshida’s plans for Final Fantasy XIV, he has absolutely no intention for the game to become obsolete anytime soon: “I want to keep making sure that Final Fantasy XIV will be fondly remembered by many as a fun game that gave them the best gaming experience,” he said. “I also want to make sure that it will remain in operation for decades to come.”