Final Fantasy Director Never Dreamed The Franchise Would Be So Successful

What is the key to Final Fantasy’s success? Did the team ever think it would be this big?

It’s a well-known fact that the original Final Fantasy game was meant to be just that. The final game of a man and a team that wanted to make video games. In fact, they feared that people wouldn’t play the game because RPGs like Dragon Quest were owning the market. Yet, they made it, and 30 years later, the games are still being made.

Three decades is a long time for a franchise, and it’s grown quite a bit since the pixel. The Director of Final Fantasy IV, Tokita Takashi, noted to IGN that even though the idea of a franchise was possible by the time he came on for IV, he never thought it would be this big.

“When I was working on the first title in the series depicting monsters in pixels, I never imagined the series would be popular for this long. I think there was a firm belief that the game would turn into a series when it continued onto the third installment, and with the fourth installment, there was a sense of pressure, though it all felt worth accomplishing. That said, never in my dreams did I think we would be celebrating its 30th anniversary, nor did I think I would have been able to continue developing games for this many years.”