Final Fantasy 15 Director Hajime Tabata has said in a new interview that the franchise is considered as “a dying IP that had already peaked” and that the upcoming game is make or break for the series. No pressure, then.
Speaking to GameInformer, Tabata said that when they started work on Final Fantasy 15, they weren’t seeing any new fans drawn to the franchise, and that the brand image of Final Fantasy wasn’t really clear.
Tabata explained:
The reality is not that the situation is okay or in favor of us. Rather, it is more grave and serious than we had initially thought. The way we understood Final Fantasy after our analysis is that it was a dying IP that had already peaked.
Still, Square Enix clearly still have a lot of faith in the franchise and believe that the new game will do well. They’ve even announced a spinoff anime series and feature film – I’m no businessman, but you don’t do that with a dying franchise.
Tabata also believes the fans continue to have faith, and are still hopeful that the franchise could carry on to even greater heights. He mentioned three “core” qualities that he believes define the Final Fantasy brand.
These are described as:
- “A willingness to challenge the status quo”
- “An exceptional, out-of-the-ordinary experience”
- “Cutting-edge technology to use the hardware to the fullest”
Tabata reckons that the last game to meet all three of these qualities was 1997’s Final Fantasy 7 which many do still consider the pinnacle of the series. He states that 15 will rise to the occasion, and encompass everything fans have come to love about Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy 15 comes to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September. There’s a great demo that you can try for free now, which offers a great introduction the mechanics (and incredible visuals) in the game.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.