Final Fantasy is one of the biggest and longest-running franchises in gaming, with its roots stretching all the way back to the 1980s. Despite this, the IP has fallen in popularity somewhat over the past few years. According to Square Enix’s Yoshi-P, one of the reasons for its fall in cache is due to the “release intervals for new titles” having “gotten longer.”
Taking part in a mini video documentary discussing the release of the free-to-play mobile battler ‘DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY’ long-time franchise producer/director Yoshi-P spoke pretty candidly on where the series is at currently, stating:
“The Final Fantasy series has an incredibly long history. I'm 53 now, and I've been playing since Final Fantasy 1 in real time. But for younger generations – people who grew up naturally accustomed to action-based combat and online competitive play – the recent entries in the series may have been harder to engage with.”
Yoshida continued, “Part of that is simply because I'm sorry to say . . . the release intervals for new titles have gotten longer, so some players haven't really had the chance to connect with the series the way older fans did. My hope is that both long-time Final Fantasy fans and those who love the characters themselves can enjoy this as a completely new kind of game.”
While it’s hard to imagine that the free-to-play DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY will be what brings the series back into the limelight, it is encouraging at least to know that Square Enix themselves are aware of just how long their Final Fantasy games have been taking. It will be interesting to see how long we will have to wait to hear about a potential Final Fantasy XVII.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the Final Fantasy franchise currently? Will it ever rise back up to the top, or have too many other franchises surpassed it? Let us know your thoughts down below.
The post Yoshi-P comments on Final Fantasy franchise’s waning relevance first appeared on KitGuru.Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler is an interesting series. Originally released as a Nintendo Switch 1 exclusive, this relatively new IP introduced us to a unique visual aesthetic which blended old-school pixel art with modern post-processing techniques to create what they called HD-2D. Since 2018, we’ve gotten 3 total mainline entries – the combined sales of which have now officially surpassed 7 million in total.
Taking to Twitter to make the announcement, the official Octopath Traveler page confirmed that “the Octopath Traveler series hits 7 million copies shipped and digitally sold worldwide!“ Alongside this, the team shared a commemorative art piece created by illustrator Maika Minami.
As mentioned, the Octopath Traveler series initially started as a Nintendo Switch 1 exclusive back in 2018. That said, the franchise’s release cadence was highly odd, with the first title coming to Windows in 2019; Xbox in 2021 and PlayStation in 2024.
The sequel meanwhile first launched in 2023 for Switch, PC and PlayStation; later coming to Xbox in 2024. Finally, the most recent title – Octopath Traveler 0 – released concurrently across all platforms late last year.
Despite being a relatively new IP (and one which was somewhat convoluted to get into initially), Octopath Traveler is slowly but surely finding a dedicated audience of players. It will be interesting to see how the latest title performs in the wake of its multi-platform launch.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the Octopath series? Do you like the franchise’s HD-2D art style? Let us know down below.
The post Octopath Traveler series celebrates new milestone with over 7 million copies sold first appeared on KitGuru.
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