This past weekend, the Final Fantasy Fan Fest took place in Anaheim, featuring plenty of exciting news, particularly regarding Final Fantasy XIV, which is both coming to the Switch 2 and has a new expansion in the works. Producer Naoki Yoshida was on hand to discuss the game, and during a press conference (via Mirror), he revealed a somewhat surprising idea for a spin-off.
For those of you who don't know, Final Fantasy XIV is a very popular online role-playing game that regularly sets new milestones in player numbers. But... as mentioned, it's an online role-playing game, something not everyone is interested in. The Final Fantasy world is essentially a single-player universe, which is why many people regret never having had the chance to explore this title.
According to Yoshida, however, this could be about to change, and he says that "if there are people who are interested in creating a standalone FFXIV, if you have any friends or know of companies who really want to take on that challenge we would love to hear from them."
He goes on to explain that he knows online role-playing games aren't for everyone, and adds that he'd love to make a single-player adventure based on it. Unfortunately, though, he says it would have to be the Final Fantasy XIV team that develops such a game, and as we know, they're busy with the online RPG on several fronts:
"There are still a lot of people out there who look at an online Final Fantasy and they say an online Final Fantasy is not a Final Fantasy.
"While I do love to consider making a single player standalone Final Fantasy XIV, unfortunately the only team who could potentially make the best standalone FFXIV game is the current FFXIV team."
That said, there is still a chance for a slightly smaller spin-off:
"As for a spin-off, of course I would love to consider taking on that challenge, maybe build a smaller team within the Creative Business Unit 3. But then if that happens, I'm sure FFXIV players would look at that project and go 'Instead of focusing on some spin-off project, you should work more on the main actual FFXIV game'."
He concluded his remarks on a light-hearted note, but still made it clear that he wasn't just joking:
"I'm half joking, half serious. If somebody is passionate enough to helm that project, we would love to hear from you."
What do you think of the idea of a single-player adventure based on Final Fantasy XIV?