At the conclusion of the first day of FINAL FANTASY XIV Fan Festival 2026 in Anaheim, Naoki Yoshida (Producer and Director of FINAL FANTASY XIV Online) sat down for a media panel discussion where he talked about everything from the new evolved combat system and the EVANGELION partnership to the inspiration behind Evercold and his goals for FINAL FANTASY XIV Online.
You can find out more about the newest FINAL FANTASY XIV Online Expansion, Evercold, on the official website, on Facebook and Instagram, on X and Bluesky, and on YouTube and Twitch.
Evercold is scheduled for a January 2027 release worldwide.
This interview has been edited for content and clarity.
Q: How did the FINAL FANTASY XIV Online and EVANGELION partnership come about? How long has this been in the works for?
Naoki Yoshida: So, we actually spoke with khara inc. about this. I’m afraid the information we could reveal was what was already shared today at the Keynote. That said, we’ve been working with kara inc. very closely and at a rapid pace just [so] that we could be able to announce this, and so I’m very relieved that we were able to get this information out. I’ve been looking at the reactions on social channels, and it seems like — while everyone’s been surprised — they’re also really excited about it. Again, I’m very relieved.
And as mentioned during the Keynote, we are working on new designs and artworks and things like that, and we are preparing also information to reveal at Europe and Japan Fan Festivals, as well. So again, there really wasn’t much else we can talk about today. But we are preparing to be able to talk more about it more. So if we could ask for your patience just a little bit longer.
Q: Will the [Nintendo] Switch 2 version of FINAL FANTASY XIV utilize the built in mouse controls across all areas of the game? Have you used it for a Savage raid yet?
NY: For the first part of the question about the built-in mouse controls: yes, it is supported; it is possible. And then, as for the second part: I have not tried going into a Savage raid with the built-in mouse yet, but I believe the QA team is checking it as well and is testing it. But I think because you can use a controller, I would prefer to use a controller.
And of course, I’m sure you are all aware [that] the Nintendo Switch 2 is a wonderful console and I think you can choose the way you want to play — you can put it in the cradle, you can play it on the TV — and I think people who play [a] Savage raid might want to sit down and go into the content, so I imagine they would hook up a mouse and a keyboard and play it on the TV. Or you can also play it on handheld mode. So, if you’re a gatherer or a crafter, you take the unit with you on the go and do some of the more casual things. Of course, with the shift of a daily cycle more to a weekly cycle, you can choose what you want to focus on as you will. You’re [freer] to choose which mode to play in, so I hope that players will find the way most suited for themselves.
And, I already noticed some comments on the social channels talking about ‘well, what about the specs’ and ‘how does it compare to the other, more robust systems’ and ‘what would happen if I match with other players playing on the different platforms in, say a duty.’ I want to be honest with you: we are really working hard on the optimization for the [Nintendo Switch 2] platform. We are striving to get the best performance. I think, with the other towns, you may see a lower frame rate only because there are so many players rendered on the screen, but we are still able to reach 30 frames-per-second in a stable rate. So, considering duty content, I think the performance you don’t have to be concerned about. So, I hope the members of the media would share that information with your readers [that] you don’t have to worry about the specs compared to other platforms.
And also, I did notice — perhaps it was the way I explained it — that may have caused a little bit of people to misconstrue. I mentioned system requirements and how the PlayStation 4 service, while we were going to fully support 8.0, we did ask for perhaps considering transitioning [to the PlayStation 5]. And some people were mentioning on the socials about how ‘oh you’re closing down PS4 service and that’s why you’re going over to the Nintendo Switch 2.’ But this is not the case.
The reason why we are looking to transition from the PlayStation 4 to the PlayStation 5, or encouraging players to do so, is because of the hardware limitations of the PS4. So, it is the size of the game that is causing the hurdle right now. Sony has been kind to us to continue their support, even though we are kind of reaching towards that limit of the hardware considering how large of a capacity requirement this game has. But yeah, we’re reaching the point where the game is so big that the hardware itself would not be able to handle the game at this point. So, that’s why we want people to — I mean, not right away — but slowly consider transitioning to the PS5.
So again, we’re not saying that we’re going to cease support for the PS4. So, that’s another point that we want to emphasize, so that members of the media could share that information with your readers as well. I’m really thankful for Sony SIE for their support, because, yeah, we are pushing the limits literally so we can deliver gameplay experience to our PlayStation 4 players.
“We continue to pursue what players would enjoy and to have fun with. So, yes, I think it is important that we constantly think about evolving FINAL FANTASY XIV, but it wasn’t necessarily because ‘oh this is the theme for Evercold, that’s why everything is about evolving.’”
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the Dancing Mad Ultimate? Why was Kefka chosen, and how are you guys going to make it as interesting as other Ultimates that bring different bosses for different phases and kind of tell a story?
NY: So, I interpret this as two parts to this question. So, allow me to address the first part which is first, why Dancing Mad, or Kefka, was chosen.
In terms of Ultimate content, we have a limited number of developers who has handled such content within our battle encounter team. Because we have a limited number of people who can create Ultimate content, they kind of take turns or somebody raises their hand if they want to do the next content. The person came up and I asked them ‘so, what was their theme for the Ultimate, what they wanted to pitch to me,’ and the person in charge said ‘I REALLY want to do Kefka,’ and so it was that person’s idea.
And of course, he’s a very big fan of FINAL FANTASY VI. And so, he also worked on the Kefka fight in The Interdimensional Rift Omega — the normal/savage modes. So, he came to me saying ‘I can make something better, let me do Kefka again!’ *laughs* So, it’s this almost unnatural love for Kefka that brought this about.
So, for the second part of the question: If I answer this part of the question, I worry it’s going to be a spoiler. And so, I’m sure those who have watched or played Ultimate content will know this, but with FINAL FANTASY XIV, it’s not just a simple battle and not just an encounter, but it incorporates this puzzle-solving, almost this gimmick, that you have to get through and solve.
Because there’s so many elements kind of intertwined in this fight, with the puzzle solving and the character that is Kefka, the battle encounter, and the fight itself are just so closely tied together, I feel like the answer to this question would make sense if we’ve seen the ‘world first’ or if ‘one-two-three’ has cleared the content.
I mean, as a game producer, I should be promoting this fight and I should be telling you what’s good about this fight, but I really want for the players to experience this sort of surprise, I guess, and I want to prioritize their experience. The answer to this question would make more sense after we’ve seen people already clear the content.
Q: Why did you decide to go with two completely original jobs for Evercold, rather than going to ‘legacy’ jobs? How did it tie into your vision to evolve the game?
NY: So, allow me to address the latter half of this question. I think it’s kind of irrelevant, is my answer to that part of the question. I think I may have explained this a few times before, but whenever we release a new expansion and we introduce new jobs, there is a process of how we select those jobs. Allow me to kind of briefly explain that.
The first reason is, simply put, a good chunk of the player population seems to prefer the DPS role over tank and healer, so we make a point to always introduce one new DPS job based on our data and our numbers. And so, from that, and the remaining tank and healers, I guess it gradually became an order — ‘we did a healer this time, so we going to do a tank’ kind of situation. So, we’ve already kind of determined which roles we’re going to implement with the expansion. The previous [expansion, Dawntrail] was two jobs — the melee Viper and the caster, which was the Pictomancer — and so with 8.0, we looked at ranged DPS because that would kind of fall in an order. So again, the two jobs, or the roles that they would fall under, was decided rather smoothly in that way.
And then once the roles are decided, the battle system planners, including Mr. Prime [OR Note: Hikaru Tamaki] who did his development panel today — such a nice nickname — go into a bidding or a pitching phase of the actual job. So, for example, with a tank, we think about what kind of weapon they will wield, what kind of gameplay experience will our players have, things like that. And kind of gather ideas and submissions from our developers. I believe for the tank, we had five ideas pitched amongst the team.
And of course, out of those ideas, we look at what would be the most interesting or fun gameplay experience and pick from there. And the same process was done for the ranged DPS, as well. And then after that, and we have our basic mechanics down for these different jobs, we think about ‘what do we name it?’ And if an idea was pitched along with an existing FINAL FANTASY series job name, then we would kind of associate it with that. But this time, the ideas that were pitched were very unique and not based on any ‘legacy’ FINAL FANTASY job, and we wanted to prioritize that sort of unique feeling and bring [those] interesting ideas that they had pitched. And that’s why we decided ‘okay, these are going to be original to FINAL FANTASY XIV.’
As such, this process has been going on, and we have been doing it for many years every time we look at a new expansion. So, it’s different than simply that this whole theme of evolution we’ve been talking about through the Keynote. We continue to pursue what players would enjoy and have fun with. So, yes, I think it is important that we constantly think about evolving FINAL FANTASY XIV, but it wasn’t necessarily because ‘oh this is the theme for Evercold, that’s why everything is about evolving.’
“In terms of the time when I started to think about the concept of the next expansion [Evercold] was about two months after Dawntrail released. “
Q: Evolved jobs seem to be a substantial overhaul. Can you estimate roughly when you started working on them? What were the biggest challenges, and when did you decide to support both styles rather than committing to just the new designs?
NY: So, I was considering what we now call the evolved battle system when I went to talk to assistant director [Tsuyoshi] Yokozawa and battle director [Kei] Sato about one-and-a-half years ago. And so, the both of them, when I asked ‘I am thinking about this system,’ they both thought Mr. Prime would be the best person to handle this. So, I mentioned this during the development panel earlier, that was when I invited him to dinner — ‘let’s go get some grilled meats’ — and from there it was one-year-and-four months ago? And of course, I think the biggest challenge that faced us was time. We really want to be thoughtful and thorough in building this system, but in order to do so would require time, of course. So, I think we already started work on that next step shortly after 7.0, or Dawntrail, released.
And I think I touched upon this in the different discussions, Taki [OR Note: Hikaru Tamaki] was designing the individual jobs that would be under that evolved system but at the same time, he needed to work on the different encounter team tasks, including adjustments and checking those adjustments, checking for balance and difficulty levels, making sure that mechanics and gimmicks were designed correctly. He was doing the full role of tasks that were upon him. And also, he also works on PVP items as well, so he would need to work on adjustments on PVP actions and everything was happening in parallel to each other. So, I think time was a large challenge. So, today we showed off four jobs on the game PCs, but as of February when I checked the evolved system, the 21 jobs were available for me to test.
So, there are still some elements within those job mechanics that Taki’s trying to decide — maybe there are some items he might want to include or change — and he’s still tweaking it and working on it. But, we are tracking to release the evolved battle system at the release of Evercold. So we will continue to adjust.
And then that last part about why support both styles. If you know about Star Wars Galaxy, then I’m sure you know about what happened to it when it did its thing. [OR Note: Yoshida-san is referring to the 2005 New Game Enhancement update.] I actually really liked Star Wars Galaxy and its game design, but for the betterment of the gameplay experience — they were doing it for the players, but they took an existing system and just changed it to something entirely new and players did not take it very well. And I know people have been referring to it as a very tragic incident.
And of course, I mentioned this at today’s Keynote as well, but counting from the original FINAL FANTASY XIV, we’ve been around for 15 years — 13 if you count from A Realm Reborn — and so we’ve been building this game together with players worldwide and we’ve been on this journey together, and people have gotten so familiar and used to the system that we have established, and I knew I didn’t want to suddenly remove what we’ve been used to, and that was my decision from the start.
And of course, this notion of keeping the reborn mode — I’ve mentioned to Yokosawa and Sato and when I talked about the evolved mode, I really wanted to keep it. So, we’re going to keep adjusting and updating at Evercold release and we need to make sure we will develop the evolved system but let’s properly address what we have as well. That’s the direction I’ve had for them from the start.
With the game being around for this many years and comparing it to something that say, was introduced in Dawntrail like the Viper and Pictomancer jobs, I feel we’re already kind of stepping into that evolved mode. The more recent job design felt more streamlined. And I feel like it is a very good design. And with that knowledge that we’ve built — that knowledge and experience and insight, I think we can start applying that to the existing jobs we’ve been accustomed to and had for many years.
Q: Same region player matching is a huge player improvement for FINAL FANTASY XIV. What made this change possible now?
NY: Let’s see. What made this change possible now; just trying to imagine where do I start.
Can I see a show of hands, who has been playing since A Realm Reborn? Remember when we didn’t even have Party Finder? So, we had to build Party Finder, we had to build world visiting, and we had to build each of these systems. And I think you have all seen how we have to progress one step at a time.
With these foundations, these building blocks, stacking on top of each other, and us starting to become more confident about maintaining stability as players were traveling between the worlds, and when we felt most comfortable that through this tunnel — we could break down those walls — was about two years ago. So from that perspective, what made this possible was the fact we were able to continue developing and to keep gleaning knowledge and to continue getting the insight, and continuing to work on it, and then we finally see that kind of light, not at the end, but to get this far.
And so, the steps we took start between the player/character information, the server that manages that aspect. And then the world that character is in, that is the next tier. Then the group of those worlds — the frontier server — and then even higher tier — the group server — and making sure that’s stable. And then while we’re doing that, we would replace the old equipment and put in new equipment so it would allow for us to continue to be stable. Changing out the equipment started two years ago, and the actual coding started a year-and-four-or-five months ago. So, the server team, the infrastructure team worked really hard on trying to work on the foundation and then build upon it. So, I really want to show my thanks to those teams, and I am really happy that we were able to get to that point.
I’ve always wanted to get to this point since A Realm Reborn where we have player matching across the region, and I am comfortable enough to make that actually happen with Evercold. So, I am really glad that is happening and thank you for your support. We really thank you for your patience after all of these years.
Q: What’s the inspiration for the name of the expansion? How long ago was the name locked into production?
NY: So, first and foremost, the title Evercold, before we settled on that, there was another main candidate we had. But I mean, that happened in the past, as well, many times.
For example, when we were trying to come up with a name for what became Stormblood, one of the names that came up with was ‘Rebellion’ and was rejected for various reasons, including legal reasons as well; it was already taken. And then for Shadowbringers, we thought about ‘Darkbringer’ but that was rejected as well. For Endwalker, the other candidate was ‘World’s End,’ but obviously that was not possible, either. And for this expansion, I really wanted to go with ‘Absolute Zero,’ and I was thinking about ‘oh, what the logo would look like’ and whatnot, but that was rejected as well. And of course, as you can imagine with a name ’Absolute Zero,’ it was about everything was frozen and there was also scientific evidence that was found that the Earth was once completely frozen, and that was kind of the theming I wanted to go with.
And of course, with falling to ice, lost to ice, of course, we can imagine things literally, physically freezing, or metaphorically we can think about how some person’s heart could grow cold and icy, and so there are many different interpretations about what ‘icing over’ would mean. And so, with this expansion, the protagonist — or the Warriors of Light, which is the players — would be encountering many instances where various ice would melt or even destroy to move forward and explore and become that sort of wonderer, and I hope the players would experience and enjoy that journey.
In terms of the time when I started to think about the concept of the next expansion was about two months after Dawntrail released. But, of course, I do have a general idea about what direction I want to take the overall scenario or saga, and so it’s more like narrowing or determining or pinpointing what the next theme would be.
Q: We saw in the Keynote that there are heavy Norse influences in the architecture, but it also seems like there was some in the storyline — that one-eyed man is very suspicious. Similarly, Heavensward also had a lot of Norse influence. Is there a method to this madness?
NY: May I ask who asked this question? Yeah, you’ve got a sharp eye there.
We actually tried to obscure that it was Norse-inspired, so I’m really impressed you were able to catch onto that. That’s one of the reasons why we did not list any sort of names or proper nouns in the Keynote presentation, and I think you’ll start to realize that as we reveal more information. So, if you’ll look into the cultures and mythologies about this, you’ll get a better understanding and you’ll enjoy it even more deeper.
So, looking at this question, I was about to say: ‘I’m afraid I can’t comment on that,’ but it was a really sharp observation and so this is all I can say at this point.
“In terms of a goal: goal, to me, brings to my mind some sort of endpoint. And I can’t really imagine XIV coming to an end.”
Q: How do you plan to restore stronger job identity without hurting balance?
NY: I feel like when we talk about balance, it does seem very vague or broad. So those may refer to balance as when you compare the different jobs within the same role, and how much damage it can deal. But on the other hand, people might refer to ‘being balanced’ as all DPS should be ‘equally the same,’ but we do look at balance within the role. But then melee, ranged, and casters, they play different roles even within the role.
So, for example, we showed the Dragoon on live gameplay earlier today, and there was Sky High, where the character jumps up for three seconds and he kind of went off the screen and didn’t come back down for a while, and you were able to avoid 90 percent of the damage taken. And so, in our minds, FINAL FANTASY’s Dragoon is always with their jump attacks — and with evolved mode, we wanted to bring that characteristic out. And also, with say, a Samurai, in the evolved mode, Samurai would have its big move or attack, and so as you can see we always try to create something that’s in that job mechanics that is very unique to a particular job before we think about ‘balance.’
And so, with the earlier example of Sky High — that’s three seconds the character is off the screen, if you’re looking at a global cooldown skill, you can execute it twice, and so to offset that, when the character comes back on the screen, you’re dealing about twice the damage. And that’s how we balance it out, based on the mechanics of a particular job. In terms of gameplay feel, the development team looks at different feedback that was provided and adjust from there as well. And so, the process for us doesn’t really change.
Q: Have you ever considered making a FINAL FANTASY XIV spinoff game? Like a single player game set in a different time period or a game that focuses on side characters?
NY: Have I thought about it? Yes, I have thought about it.
And considering how long I’ve been working on this game, I still feel that I want to continue bringing in even one more person around the world so they can experience this game. That said, there are still a lot of people out there who look at an online FINAL FANTASY, and they say ‘well, an online FINAL FANTASY is not a FINAL FANTASY.’ So, of course, while I would love to consider making a standalone FINAL FANTASY XIV, unfortunately, the only team that could potentially make the best standalone FINAL FANTASY XIV is the current FINAL FANTASY XIV team.
So, I mean, if we ever retire from FINAL FANTASY XIV Online, maybe we can do it as like an after-retirement kind of work. But on the flip side, if there are people who are interested in creating a standalone FINAL FANTASY, if you have any friends or any companies who would like to take on that challenge, we would love to hear from them.
I mean, I’m half joking, half serious, actually. If someone’s passionate enough to want to helm that sort of project or yeah, take on that sort of project, we would love to hear from you.
Just like we were able to finally get cross-region matching, we’ve always held up the motto of ‘never give up,’ so if we have that sort of obstacle or hurdle that we need to overcome, we just take it a step at a time and just move what we can and continue to pursue. So yeah, if anybody is passionate enough — be it an individual or a company — we would want to hear your pitch.
As for a spinoff, of course I would love to consider taking on that challenge, maybe build a smaller team within Business Unit III. But then, if that happens, I’m sure XIV players would look at that project and be ‘Yoshi-P, instead of focusing on say, some spinoff project, you could focus more on the main actual FINAL FANTASY XIV game.’
Q: You said at the time of the transition between Endwalker and Dawntrail that we were back for a new 10-years journey. What would you like to see FINAL FANTASY XIV in 10 years? What would be the goal you would like to achieve?
NY: In terms of a goal: goal, to me, brings to my mind some sort of endpoint. And I can’t really imagine XIV coming to an end. It is my goal to keep that sort of XIV going, so maybe that, I think, would be my goal? Even if I could die or retire my job, my dream would be for XIV to continue on, even without me, and that would be the goal: for XIV to continue on and for me to create that state so that it would continue to go on.
And so, getting to that next 10 years — I feel is sort that midway point or on that path for XIV perpetually going on. Through Shadowbringers and Endwalker we saw a climax to that story arc, and in the next 10 years, we would bring another climax that’s comparable if not surpassed in the previous 10 years, and for the players to get a taste, to experience, that 10 years later. So right now, we’re starting to build that story, to take one step at a time to build that. With Evercold, it applies to not just Evercold but through FINAL FANTASY XIV — you would only see the end of the journey through the path that Warrior of Light has gone through. So, if you continue to play, I think you’ll see that sort of meaning, that ahead of you.
A special thank you to Naoki Yoshida and SQUARE ENIX for setting up this media panel interview.
Evercold is set to release on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch 2 in January 2027.
Are you planning on playing FINAL FANTASY XIV Online on the Nintendo Switch 2?
What brand-new type of tank or ranged DHS job do you want to see in Evercold?
Let us know in the comments below!
