Final Fantasy XIV Boss Says “The Concept of Online Gaming Will Disappear Over Time”

Final Fantasy XIV Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida spoke about the future of gaming in an interview. He spoke about the concept of online gaming and the technology that he believes could revolutionize how games are developed.

Although Yoshida has been with Square Enix since 2004, he only rose to fame after rebooting the failed 1.0 version of FFXIV in 2013. His successful leadership of the MMORPG has led him to be considered one of the industry giants in gaming.

Yoshida says: The Final Fantasy series is one of the oldest franchises in gaming, turning 35 in December 2022. While the vast majority of these games have historically been offline only, director Yoshida believes that will change in the future because the distinction between “traditional” and “online” games will not matter.

I think that the inherent concept of online gaming will disappear over time. While the level of implementation varies, there are few video games today that don’t include some form of online component. I think the distinction is just reduced to “single” or “multiplayer”.

Naoki Yoshida im Interview with Inverse

Yoshida also believes that MMORPGs as a genre and video games in general will see massive changes in the future. According to him, this will happen due to the constant development of technology. In particular, the boss of FFXIV looks at quantum computing.

Quantum PCs can be a lot faster and more efficient than even the most powerful off-the-shelf PCs, but this technology is currently in very limited use. However, Yoshida believes that the further development and spread of quantum computing could revolutionize gaming:

This would drastically increase server performance and elements that could be simulated. This could lead to the creation of a living world similar to reality. Or even to new ideas that could create a real online world.

There is a chance that game development will change drastically, culminating in a massive turnaround that will transform not only video games but everyday life as well.

Naoki Yoshida

He has set the time span in which Yoshida expects these changes to be the next 10 years. Although he himself admits that the pace of development may have slowed down. He sees the reasons for this in the Covid pandemic and the lack of semiconductors, from which not only the gaming industry suffered, but also car manufacturers, for example.

As for the future of FFXIV itself, Yoshida wants to continue leading the MMORPG, so fans don’t have to worry about their “Yoshi-P” suddenly being siphoned off for other projects. According to Yoshida, the game should also last “hopefully for decades”.

In the near future, however, the MMORPG is expecting the major content update 6.2, which will also bring the island paradise with it:

Final Fantasy: New trailer for update 6.2 shows the Animal Crossing island that so many have been waiting for