Final Fantasy XIV Producer Talks Player Feedback Differences Between Japan, Europe And U.S.

Final Fantasy XIV producer, Naoki Yoshida, was recently interviewed by Gamasutra regarding the future of the game and how Square Enix were interpreting user feedback to make changes to it. During the interview, Yoshida touched upon the differences in feedback from players in Japan, Europe and the U.S.

“We’ve had two surveys so far, and we’d say probably 80 percent of the answers have been the same worldwide,” Yoshida revealed. “And then the remaining 20 percent, we found have been requests for other changes.”

“For example,” Yoshida continued, “in Japan, Japanese people have a really busy lifestyle, a lot of stuff to do, work. So, the Japanese players wanted us to keep a lot of the solo aspect, because they liked the aspect that you can solo a lot.”

European players, on the other hand, wanted the experience to feel more like a Final Fantasy game, according to Yoshida. “Whereas in Europe, a lot of the European users wanted more of a Final Fantasy feel to the game,” Yoshida said. “They wanted airships and Chocobos. They wanted it to feel more like a Final Fantasy game that they envisioned.”

“Whereas the U.S. was more ‘Okay, we want parties. We want to have big battles where we get with our friends and put together strategies,’” Yoshida revealed. “And so, while everyone is saying that they want the changes, this 20 percent, there are some differences between the regions.”