On July 8, 2025, the Anime News Network (a website dedicated to reporting and reviewing all things anime) recently conducted an interview with Naoki Yoshida (a.k.a. Yoshi-P), the producer for Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XIV.
Yoshi-P was asked a fair number of questions, which included Square Enix's plans for Final Fantasy's future, his experiences and inspirations, whether or not Final Fantasy will ever have turn-based combat again, and more.
Here's what he had to say.
The first question Naoki Yoshida answered was about Square Enix's current multiplatform strategy of releasing more of its games on Xbox and PC.
He confirms that Square Enix plans to double down on this strategy by stating, and I quote, "It is safe to assume that we will strive for multi-platform release moving forward."
This statement is compounded by the recently announced Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles coming to PC, along with Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Remake finally announced for Xbox.
As a result, every mainline Final Fantasy game is now available to play on Xbox. With this in mind, I believe it will only be a matter of time before Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth follow suit.
The second major question Anime News Network asked Naoki Yoshida was if mainline Final Fantasy titles would ever go back to having turn-based combat. Anime News Networks asks this while citing the popularity and success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as a sign that players are hungry for turn-based combat.
Naoki Yoshida answers this with a lengthy response: "With this question of turn-based versus action, it tends to isolate the gameplay to just the battle system. That doesn't take into account what kind of game the creators want to deliver to players.
For example, based on a certain graphical quality we want to present to our players, or the narrative we want to deliver to our players, it relates to how we set up the game's systems around it. This includes the battle system, game design, and gameplay feel. It's not a clear-cut answer, whether it will become all turn-based, or if it's going to become more action-based."
He then finished with "[I'm] not necessarily going to be on Final Fantasy 17, so we also don't want to obstruct or limit our future director or whomever will be producing the games like 17 or even 18. We don't want to put them on a rail."
Essentially, this is a roundabout way of saying that Naoki Yoshida may not be working on the next mainline Final Fantasy title, and whoever ends up being the director and producer will make it however they want so long as it fulfils their creative vision.
Whether or not the next game will have real-time or turn-based combat is up to them.
The interview then goes on with Naoki Yoshida answering minor questions like stating that his team, Creative Studio III, is continuing to work on Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail and that he has no plans of retiring anytime soon.
Square Enix wants to make Final Fantasy however they wish, but is that what the fans want?
I have mixed feelings about Naoki Yoshida's response regarding turn-based combat. On the one hand, I can respect a company wanting to develop a game that fulfils their creative vision without letting anything stifle it.
After all, one of the main aspects of Final Fantasy that helped it become the legendary JRPG franchise it is today was that every single mainline is vastly different from one another, always innovating and changing things.
On the other hand, that's also become Final Fantasy's greatest weakness. Over the last couple of decades, the franchise has changed and experimented too much to the point where it has practically lost its identity.
As a result, action games Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth have been failing to meet financial expectations, while its competitors like Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio are thriving while embracing turn-based combat.
Plus, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has proven to Square Enix that you can make an emotionally provocative story while having turn-based combat, and when the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster launched on Xbox, it was the most popular Xbox Store game of October 2024.
I believe it's clear as day that the fans (myself included) are tired of Final Fantasy games experimenting with real-time combat or mixing real-time combat with turn-based mechanics. They want this beloved franchise to go back to its roots and embrace the turn-based combat that made fans love Final Fantasy during the 1980s and 1990s.
Even some of the higher-ups at Square Enix are starting to notice this by acknowledging Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's success, and vowing to make future Final Fantasy games 'Command-based' going forward.
Could this mean that Final Fantasy XVII will be turn-based, or will it have Final Fantasy VII Remake/Rebirth's real-time combat system, where you can pause the game and command AI allies to fight in battle?
We will have to wait and see what Square Enix has in store for us, potentially at Tokyo Game Show 2025, to find out.
