Another FFXIV would ‘destroy’ Square Enix

The producer and director of the revamped version of Final Fantasy XIV Naoki Yoshida has said another error like the original could have catastrophic consequences for Square Enix.

The MMO installment of the popular franchise faced a not-so-random encounter with the teeth of industry critics, and has left Square Enix scrambling to salvage one of its most valued brands.

"We won’t make another mistake like Final Fantasy XIV again," Yoshida told Kotaku.

"If we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company."

Yoshida was a late comer to the game’s production, but admitted he had worries before he joined the team.

"When I heard that it was it was going to go on sale as planned I thought, ‘that will probably be a big mistake," he said.

Yoshida places blame on the decision to try and take a new direction from Final Fantasy XI, rather than learning from other MMOs.

"I think it would have been good if they tried seeing what happened if they turned World of Warcraft into Final Fantasy," he explained.

"Because they tried only to make something that was ‘different from Final Fantasy XI’, they ended up with not much of anything."

"They should have said, ‘Hey you, go play WoW for a year.’ Unless you are a genius, you cannot make something new from nothing."