FORMAT PS5, PS4 / ETA SUMMER 2024 / PUB SQUARE ENIXDEV SQUARE ENIX CREATIVE BUSINESS UNIT III / PLAYERS MULTI
The last ten years of FFXIV have taken the Warriors Of Light on a truly epic journey; players have fought gods, stopped the tide of imperialism, ended a 1,000-year war against dragons, saved a parallel world, and even halted a despair-induced apocalypse. So how on earth can the team behind one of the best MMORPGs ever hope to follow that up?
We recently got the chance to speak with Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P – his in-game username – to fans) to talk about what it takes to make an MMORPG, and the upcoming Dawntrail expansion that will see us setting off on a completely new adventure.
Developing something on such a huge scale is a truly momentous undertaking, so what has Yoshida learned over the last decade of the game? “If I had to give one example to the Naoki Yoshida from 13 years ago, I would have told him that you need to be careful about pacing,” he tells us. “When we look at MMO development it differs from a standalone game in that when you’re going through the development process for a standalone game, it’s just very much a short timed sprint. Whereas if you were to give an analogy for an MMO, it’s more that you are participating in a marathon.
“You’re in it for the long run and you have to pace yourself appropriately. You need to be able to plan which parts will be going uphill, which parts with work would I be going downhill, what
