14 DAY TRIAL // As a new-year resolution, Square Enix seems to have set for itself a higher standard. As Japanese companies have a habit of doing at the beginning of a new year, Square has announced its intentions for the following 12 months and revealed that it plans to broaden its activity. Considering that most of the developer's time is spent working on either a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game, the fact that it feels the need for something more, for something new isn't very surprising. But the possibility that the Final Fantasy journey as we know it could come to an end is an unforeseen turn of events.
The latest installment in the saga, XIII, has already been launched in Japan, and, while the rest of the world still has to wait two more months, it looks like everyone will have to wait an eternity before the next Final Fantasy title comes out. Talking to Edge, the President of Square Enix, Yoichi Wada, "feels" that it's time to move past the Final Fantasy JRPG.
"I believe Final Fantasy XIII is going be something special, and that it's going to be well-received by the audience. But whether we are going to continue to internally create this type of game remains to be seen, because I actually feel that the team that was involved with Final Fantasy XIII should next move on to create and generate some 'next generation' forms of play," Wada said.
He further added that, "Internally and externally I feel there's an expectation of Square Enix to offer something new, and I really think that the Final Fantasy team could create something completely different, but at the moment they're strictly catering to the particular audience they have now."
Just what does Wada understand by 'next generation' forms of play is somewhat unclear, but one thing that looks pretty solid is that, if there even will be another Final Fantasy game, it may be part of a different genre alltogether. While an action-adventure title would still fit with the concept of FF pretty well, gamers would most likely feel a little bit hindered by a Final Fantasy iteration that doesn't involve the classic formula.