Final Fantasy 14 Developers Share 10-Year Roadmap

Final Fantasy XIV has been around for quite some time, but Square Enix has ambitious plans to support the game for at least another decade. During a recent livestream, producer/director Naoki Yoshida laid out many of the publisher's plans for the next 10 years of the game, as well as his desire to stay involved with Final Fantasy XIV as long as humanly possible. Square Enix discussed a number of improvements fans can look forward to, and one of the most notable will be its first graphical update, coming in version 7.0.

According to Square Enix, the game's graphics will be improved in a number of different ways! Characters will be seeing an overhaul, with higher-resolution textures for hair, skin, and more, though the team stressed that it will not be striving for photo-realism. Changes to animation and lighting are also planned, including multiple lighting points in areas, and improvements to shadows. Players can expect to see improvements to the game's backgrounds and plant life, as well. Naturally, these improvements will result in changes to minimum operating specs for the game, but the team will try to accommodate "as broad a range of hardware specifications as possible." Yoshida also plans to support the PlayStation 4 version at least until version 7.0.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Square Enix's plans! Notably, the publisher wants to improve the game's RPG elements, both for solo players, and for those enjoying the game with friends. The company also wants to offer more consistent updates. All of these planned improvements for the game could help Final Fantasy XIV maintain the momentum it has seen over the last year. In 2021, the game saw massive growth, thanks in part to streamers like Asmongold; demand got so high that Square Enix even had to start turning players away! The publisher clearly isn't resting on that success, and it will be interesting to see how the game improves over the next 10 years.

Final Fantasy XIV is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Have you started playing Final Fantasy XIV recently? Are you happy to hear some of the publisher's plans for the future? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!

[H/T: Gematsu]