If you've ever wanted to watch your favorite Final Fantasy 14 characters in other mediums, like say, an anime, the team is open to the idea if the right offer comes along.
During a press Q&A last night at Final Fantasy 14's Fan Festival 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, producer and director Naoki Yoshida touched on the subject of bringing FF14 to other mediums, namely TV and anime. Readers will remember that Netflix has a series, Final Fantasy XIV Dad of Light, which debuted in 2019.
This series showcased a father and son rebuilding their bond through the MMORPG. And while Final Fantasy 14 was a focal point, the real highlight was watching that bond form between the two protagonists. It was a short-lived series, however, running for only one season back in 2017. In 2019, though, Sony and Hivemind released a press release about a live-action Final Fantasy 14 show in the works, though as of now, nothing has really come about that.
In the Q&A, Yoshida touched on this, citing the global pandemic as a factor in the show being canceled.
"We were fortunate enough to have people approach us with offers," Yoshida said through an interpreter in the press Q&A. "But unfortunately, with the pandemic hitting and a lot of schedules being thrown off, or things getting canceled, I'm sure not just our [Final Fantasy 14] project but other projects may have been affected by the pandemic as well."
If a project like this were to be revived, Yoshida says the team is open to the idea, so long as it's done right. While he mentions that he'd like to be the "overall supervisory director," he's not sure with all his other duties he'd have time to be the director of the series.
"So if I'm allowed to be the overall productions, as well as overall supervisory director, then I would love to have a Final Fantasy 14 TV series. That said, right now, as you know, my title is Producer/Director of Final Fantasy 14. I'm the head of Creative Business Unit 3. I'm also a board member. And so I don't think I can squeeze in being a director of a TV series."
Yoshida does mention that while he won't be able to do it personally, the FF14 team is still open to the idea. However, the 14 team would want to be involved to ensure that any TV show isn't "destroying the image" that the game itself has built in players' minds.
"But in any case, if the [Final Fantasy 14] team becomes committed to a project like that, we want to make sure that we're not destroying the image that we have built, or the players have built in their mind of what Final Fantasy 14 should be, no matter what the medium would be. So we know that we want to have a very good quality when we deliver it. I mean, we don't have any real plans of doing so. But yeah, I would love to Yeah, I will make sure that the quality is definitely high."
Final Fantasy 14's Fan Festival 2023 in Las Vegas is in full swing right now, with the team talking all things Dawntrail, as well as the upcoming 6.5 patch for Endwalker. You can check out our coverage from the keynote in our event blog. In the same interview, Yoshida talked about how the team is looking at ways for you to play Final Fantasy inside your Final Fantasy 14 game.
Yoshida’s answers in English were provided through a translator and have been edited for clarity and flow.
