Final Fantasy 14 Director Promises To "Kick It Up A Notch" For 10th Anniversary

It's been almost ten years since Final Fantasy 14 relaunched with its A Realm Reborn update, and in that time, it's become one of the highest-rated and best MMORPGs around. It's become so popular, in fact, that the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Final Fantasy 14 its Online Game of the Year trophy at the 2023 DICE Awards.

Although Game director Naoki "Yohsi-P" Yoshida wasn't able to accept the award in person, he did provide a brief acceptance speech via video conference.

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"This year marks our 10th anniversary since Final Fantasy 14 was relaunched as version 2.0 with A Realm Reborn," said Yoshi-P. "In celebration of this milestone, we hope to kick it up a notch and bring plenty of excitement both in and out of the Game, starting with hosting our Final Fantasy events, where we're able to meet with you all in person."

For those who weren’t around the first time, Final Fantasy 14 initially had a disastrous launch in 2010, with performance issues, an inscrutable UI, and criticism for pretty much every major system. It was so bad that Square Enix eventually sacked the Game's original director and put Yoshida in charge, who took the Game down in 2012 to relaunch a fixed version in 2013. Initially intended to comPete with World of Warcraft, the Final Fantasy 14 of today can legitimately say it’s a contender in the MMORPG market.

As for those events Yoshi-P mentioned, those will surely be Final Fantasy 14's Fan Fests, which return this year in Las Vegas, London, and Japan. Yoshida said to expect something "substantial" at this year's events, which haven't been around since 2019 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Final Fantasy 14 turns ten on August 27, so mark your calendars. In the meantime, we've got some behind-the-scenes info on the origins of Zero courtesy of her concept artist, who was told from the get-go to make her look "genderless."

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