For how successful Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise is, it isn’t the easiest for a newcomer to get into. The numbering of Final Fantasy games can often cause confusion, and FF16 producer Naoki Yoshida acknowledged this in a recent interview, where he gave his thoughts on the matter.

The interview, held by GQ Magazine, revealed that Yoshida had actually discussed with Square Enix’s higher-ups on the topic, though he admits that at the end of the day, it’s the problem of those working on future Final Fantasy titles.

Q: Do you think you’d ever just ditch the numbers entirely? We’ve seen big franchises like God of War reboot with no numbered entries

A: That’s actually something that I’ve discussed with the higher-ups. Maybe it’s about time we removed the numbers from the title. For example, you have Final Fantasy 14. You get a new player coming in and it’s like, “Wait a minute, why do I have to play Final Fantasy 14 if 16 is out?” Why don’t we just call it Final Fantasy Online – just get rid of the number altogether, and that’ll make it easier to understand. Whether Final Fantasy 17 or Final Fantasy 18 should have a number or not – that’s going to be on whoever has to develop that game and whoever’s in charge of the branding, so that’s their problem, not ours!

It’s not uncommon for new players to assume that you need prior knowledge of older FF games in order to try out new entries, or that it’s recommended to play the most recent one first. Over the years, video game companies and studios have tried multiple ways to circumvent the situation. One such example is Mortal Kombat 1, an upcoming fighting game that had a major story (and title) reboot.

While it’ll likely be years before we hear about the next Final Fantasy game, it’ll be interesting to see if Square Enix will finally decide to drop the numbers entirely and go for more unique titles.

Source: GQ Magazine