Rock band Powerman 5000 of Tony Hawk Proskater 2 fame has posted to their Facebook page accusing Square Enix of stealing their music. The industrial rock ballad that meets players during the Sephirot boss battle is said to sound a lot like Powerman 5000’s song “When Worlds Collide”.
Really? Got to say that the level of unimaginative theft that was used in creating this music for #finalfantasyXIV is mind blowing! I mean, this is When Worlds Collide! Using something as inspiration is one thing but a straight up rip off is another! Did they really think no one would notice?#FFXIV #ripoff
Producer and director for Final Fantasy XIV has posted to the games forums explaining the song and the similarities:
I have read through your comments concerning the BGM for the 2nd phase of the Containment Bay S1T7 battle with Sephirot, and I would like to personally explain how the track was conceived.
As most FINAL FANTASY fans already know, Sephirot (the Fiend) is a legacy boss character who originally appeared in FINAL FANTASY VI.
When considering how to portray Sephirot’s return in FINAL FANTASY XIV, we decided to pay tribute to FFVI by working VI’s “Battle to the Death” track into the Containment Bay S1T7’s first phase, while opting to create an FFXIV original for the second.
Building upon the motif of Sephirot as a representation of the World Tree, to create this FINAL FANTASY XIV original track, we further incorporated story-driven themes of death and a warped obsession with life, all while utilizing a musical genre─industrial rock─which we believed would provide substantial emphasis to the message.
Industrial rock is a popular genre that can be further divided into numerous sub-genres. Countless songs from these genres have been released worldwide, and I have been made aware of an allegation regarding similarities between an existing track and the track created for the 2nd phase of Containment Bay S1T7.
However, track composer Masayoshi Soken, has also stated to me that he was unaware of the track in question while working on this FINAL FANTASY track.
We hope that you continue to enjoy FINAL FANTASY XIV battle content.
Listen for yourself at about 5 minutes in:
And now Powerman 5000’s “When Worlds Collide”:
What do you think, was the song ripped off or was it just coincidence? Let us know in the comments below.
