The CEO of Square Enix America & Europe has said that Final Fantasy XV Game Director, Hajime Tabata, is looking to embrace western gamers with its hotly anticipated PlayStation 4 and Xbox One JRPG.
Speaking with Examiner, Phil Rogers spoke of the importance of user feedback for FFXV, which he described as a ‘really great’ project for the Japanese video game giant.
"I mean Final Fantasy 15 has been a really great project for us and when you talk to Tabata-san, he really wants to embrace the Western gamers. He knows how important they are and the feedback he’s soliciting is from fan events and group discussions," he said.
"It’s amazing when people come to [the] office and talk to him and he’s really listening. The demo we put out and returned based on feedback is really important for us. Again, we take our IP very [seriously], we want to build its value."
Elsewhere, Rogers turned his attention to the Final Fantasy VII Remake:
"It’s wonderful when we can announce things like Final Fantasy 7 and when you get the biggest round of applause in the show, it’s really humbling. It’s the humbling moment when you know it’s coming and you can hear people around you anticipating it, that’s when you know you’ve listened and you’re doing something very right," he commented.
"We take our IP really seriously, we really want to stand back in 10 years time and see our IP being played by more people, enjoyed by more people and a new audience coming to the IP. That’s how we plot our IP and then when you break it down, you sort of see what the right cadence is with a certain IP or project."
Square Enix has yet to confirm a release date for Final Fantasy XV, although it is still aiming for a global launch for the game. Furthermore, Tabata-san has admitted he knows the launch window; he’s just not saying anything right now on the matter.
The title will make an appearance at Gamescom this week and was originally announced back at E3 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII.