Final Fantasy 14's director Naoki Yoshida - affectionately dubbed Yoshi-P by fans - can't see the MMO coming to an end anytime soon, with or without him.
When asked about where the mammoth MMO is headed in the next 10 years, during a Fan Festival Q&A panel attended by GamesRadar+, Yoshi-P said the question brings to mind "some sort of end point, and I can't really imagine [Final Fantasy 14] coming to an end," via a translator.
"Well, I guess it is kind of like my goal to keep [FF14] going," he adds. "So maybe that, I think, would be my goal." But the beloved director goes on to explain that he'd ideally like to lay the groundwork so the game could run smoothly even after he's retired or otherwise moved on to other projects.
"Even if I retire my job, 14 would continue on, even without me," he says. "So I think that would probably be the goal [...] to create that state, so that it will continue to go on."
Casting his mind to what Final Fantasy 14 might look like a decade from now, Yoshi-P does has one big wish outside of it still merely existing: for the game to deliver another big climax on par with Endwalker, an expansion that capped off a 10-year-long narrative arc.
"Through Shadowbringers and Endwalker, we saw a climax to the story arc," he explains. "So I'm hoping that in the next 10, we would bring another climax that's comparable, if not something that can surpass what we experienced in the previous 10 years, and for the players to get a taste and to experience that 10 years later."
With Final Fantasy 14's next expansion Evercold, Yoshi-P says the team is already building to that eventual arc conclusion. "We're starting to take one step at a time to build that." Details are light for now, but Evercold is due to launch early next year.
