Naoki Yoshida suggests it might be time for the younger generation to take on Final Fantasy XVII

During an interview with Square Enix’s Naoki Yoshida, the Final Fantasy XIV director and XVI producer has revealed that he thinks it might be better for a younger generation of developers to pick up the mantle and work on Final Fantasy XVII. 

While Final Fantasy fans have become very fond of Naoki Yoshida through his work on both FF XIV and XVI, he has implied that while the team at Square Enix have made no decision about a director for the next title in the series.

In the Game Maker’s Notebox interview with Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida, which can be viewed in its entirety here, Naoki Yoshida said:

“For the moment, I’ll just say that nothing has been decided yet. That said, if I had to say something about that… I’ve had the chance to work on two of these, XIV and XVI, so maybe it’s time for someone new, you know. Instead of having the same old guys handle the next one.”

Yoshida went on to state his reasoning, saying that a younger generation would be able to make a new Final Fantasy title with challenges that “suit today’s world.”

It will likely be a long time before we hear any concrete news about Final Fantasy XVII, but Square Enix is busy working on both Final Fantasy XIV, with Dawntrail coming this summer, and Final Fantasy XVI, with a new story-based DLC in the works and the PC version coming at some point.