Naoki Yoshida on What Went Wrong with FFXIV

Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida recently spoke with Kotaku to offer his thoughts on what went wrong with the development of the original version of the game. Yoshida assumed control of the project less than two months after its official launch when Square Enix replaced the leadership team on the project following a dismal beta and a rocky launch.

Yoshida explained that the original team behind Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) played EverQuest for over a year during the its development for inspiration and to figure out what worked so well and adapt FFXI framework accordingly, something he believes the original FFXIV lacked that led to a failure in the developers to realize that the standard for MMORPGs had been raised in recent years.

Yoshida believes that his team will deliver on the revamping of the game with FFXIV: A Realm Reborn. Especially given what he thinks is on the line.

"We won't make a mistake like FFXIV again—if we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company."

Source: Kotaku