"FFXIV" Interview with Mr. Yoshida & Mr. Soken Gamescom

Learn how to excite your fans at Gamescom

――First of all, could you tell us your impression of Gamescom this time?

Mr. Yoshida: It's almost never out of the interview booth, so the atmosphere of the whole venue can only be seen after this interview. Just yesterday alone, I thought that the number of people was explosive. Even if you look at the booths of each company that is still set up, we have devised a way to show the game so that gamers can enjoy it. Gamescom focuses on how to excite people who play, so I felt that there are more places to learn from each year. This is the first time for Soken, right?

Soken: That's right. It's bigger than E3. There is no speculation or leak information in advance, and there are quite a lot of things that can be understood only after coming here, so it is an event that it is fun to visit this venue. We are also fun.

Mr. Yoshida: It's worth coming.

Mr. Soken: In my spare time, I go to Blizzard's goods shop (laughs).

Mr. Yoshida: It's like "Yeah, Diablo's T-shirt" when we went together (laughs). That's the only place I went.

Mr. Soken: I can't go anywhere else.

――What is the position of Gamescom for Mr. Yoshida, or for game developers?

Mr. Yoshida: I think that the meaning of "FFXIV" and other projects will change a little. If E3 is a place to send new information to American players and a place for communication, Gamescom for "FFXIV" is simply a place where light warriors from all over Europe come into contact, and new information unique to Europe through the media. I think it's a place where you can get more information. It's true that the date is close to E3, but the meaning is completely different. We have been doing E3 for 8 consecutive years, but this time Gamescom has entered the 8th year, so in that sense it is like E3 in the United States and Gamescom in Europe. However, I think Gamescom is overwhelmingly superior in terms of momentum, so I think that the number of companies that will make big announcements here instead of E3 will increase in the future.

--Are there any booths that you are paying attention to personally?

Mr. Soken: The venue was too big. It feels like you don't know where to look.

Mr. Yoshida: I think it's okay if the information is the same as E3. If anything, it has a huge community such as "Fort Knight". It doesn't really matter whether it's a PC or console. I feel that there are quite a lot of cases where people are doing things that are not games in stage activities, wondering what kind of excitement they are doing. In the old days, it was just a matter of playing on the test stand or doing it on stage, but it's like let's do in-game emotes together on stage. I think that there is a shift to something that can be enjoyed because I came to the site, and I would like to see that. Not only "FFXIV" but also ESL booths, but Japan is completely behind in how to excite the viewers using games, so I am interested in it every year.

――The booth of "Fort Knight" was like an amusement park.

Mr. Yoshida: That's right. I heard from the staff that I have to see "Fort Knight" with my own eyes.

--Along with this Gamescom, NVIDIA's new GPU "RTX" series has been announced. As the drawing ability of the PC increases in the future, the graphics of the game will become richer in the future. In that case, is there a possibility that higher graphics settings will be added to the PC version of "FFXIV"?

Mr. Yoshida: I've been asked this a lot lately. I was asked in China the other day, so I think it's a point of interest all over the world. If you have a question about the possibility of raising it in the future, it is probably "yes" and I think it is possible. However, if you are planning now, this is "no". I have no plans and I'm not in the milestones.

There is a clear reason for this. Research on new graphics pipelines and new graphics is, of course, also done in the 5th division. We can't get away from making the latest games, so we're also testing. However, "FFXIV" has about 20,000 assets with the current equipment alone, but if you replace all of this with a new pipeline, you do not want to think about how much it will cost.

In order to make "FFXIV" compatible with PS3, the graphics technology pipeline is two generations earlier than it is now. If you want to fit into the current pipeline, if you have a high model, you can replace it with a high model, but there are some that are not. There are a lot of low models made from the beginning to reduce costs, so unless you remake them all into high models, the graphics performance has improved, but it doesn't look beautiful.

If you don't do it now at that cost, you don't have to rush to do it now because it's still competitive enough, at least in the MMO genre. Besides, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the PC equipped with the GPU will spread to what percentage of players. Furthermore, as long as we are also servicing "FFXIV" on the console, we definitely want to avoid having a mixed graphics pipeline. If that's the case, you can't just look at the PC, so it's difficult to consider unless, for example, the PlayStation 4 will replace the next generation. Right now, I think we should improve how to efficiently create a lot of current assets.

――Does your graphics research include PS5 and other research that may come out in the future?

Mr. Yoshida: I'm not thinking about specs, but researching where the future trends in the graphics pipeline will go. At the very least, if you can't use these, you can't compete with the West. Our staff is also giving a lecture on graphics at CEDEC, but we are also doing research at a fairly high level. If you research properly, you will be able to respond to hardware with any specifications, so I am looking at it based on technology rather than specifications.

――Since "FFXIV" has more realistic graphics, you have to keep up with the latest graphics trends. Toon shading games aren't that severe, but do you envy those parts?

Mr. Yoshida: I wasn't the one who decided to make "FF" an MMO, but I think I have to be proud of it as "FF" in order to take over. You don't envy other games. We like high-end games and want to play that kind of thing, so I'd rather use a little more bones and move it a little more smoothly, or I'd like to shake my long hair a little more. I think that's the way it is.

However, if you do that, the equipment that can be put in one patch will be about two-thirds. Volume is also one of the qualities, so I can't afford to drop it, so it's only painful. However, research is continuing, and how to efficiently create high-level assets is an issue for the future. When the timing comes, I wonder if it may raise the level of graphics.

――Mr. Yoshida has become a director, but as his responsibilities become heavier, he is worried that the amount of time he can be involved in "FFXIV" will gradually decrease.

Mr. Yoshida: Before I became a full-time employee, I was originally doing the kind of work that a full-time employee would do. Before becoming the division executive of the 5th division, the huge "FFXIV" and after Mr. Hiromichi (Mr. Hiromichi Tanaka) left the company, he was told "Please take care of" FFXI "", and "XI" I was also watching, and it feels like it was later in the 5th Business Division. After that, I made "Builders". Even if I became an executive officer, after all, I was doing something like a development consultation desk for all Square Enix, and I had many opportunities to talk with the president. Even when I became an executive officer, the number of executive officer meetings increased every month, and the number of board members also increased by one, so what I am doing is not much different. At least the time devoted to "FFXIV" has not decreased.

――Often, when you become a manager, you're away from the scene ... That's an anecdote of a salaried worker, isn't it?

Mr. Soken: Our company doesn't have that kind of thing.

Mr. Yoshida: Not really.

Mr. Soken: Just because you've become great doesn't mean you should leave the scene. Do both.

Mr. Yoshida: As a condition for accepting a director, if I talked about reducing the work of "FFXIV" or not accepting live streams, I was told that I do not have to change anything. That's why it's okay. So it hasn't changed. It's true that the amount of work may have increased a little, but I hope you can think of it as the level of work you were originally doing. It's a type that comes with a title later, so you don't have to worry too much about it.

--I'm relieved to hear that.

Mr. Yoshida: If anything, "FFXIV" is so huge that it's really hard to grasp. It's also a seed I sown myself.

――How many people are there now?

Mr. Yoshida: Now is the time when we have to make huge things with great momentum, so even if we are involved in the development of "FFXIV", it will be about 350 people at all times, and it will be about 500 people during the busy season. If you include the management team, it will probably be up to 650 people.

Also, the scale of the game has risen terribly, so after fully understanding the specifications of "Eureka", the specifications of musical instrument performance are also shifting to that because the role play of the housing is now done with my heart. Of course, I have to participate in the balance adjustment of the raid, and there are also completely new systems that I have not announced yet, and of course I have to understand the first specification. .. At first, I wish I could talk about Raid, Instance Dungeon, Alliance Raid, and Gazakura, but that's worse (laughs).