SE Business Divisions / FF16 Ito Debate goes here & nowhere else

[1Truth2Lies]

Are you basing that on when Toriyama said to Siliconera in 2010 he wanted to remake VII? And Yuji Abe saying in that February 2014 interview that he was working with Kitase still?

I do agree, Nobuyuki Matsuoka and Shintaro Takai are also likely on VII Remake. But Daisuke Watanabe makes little sense since he had nothing to do with VII and they have Nojima and Kitase already on board.

Haha, I'm sure Ito won't make XVI-2, XVI-3, XVI-4 etc. Haha.

I'm basing it on Toriyama saying in 2014 that he's hard at work on the next title, and it would be revealed in 2015. He never said anything about directing this title, but just that he's hard at work on it. This title could have been FFVII Remake, as it was revealed at E3 2015. I highly doubt we'll see another AAA game by BD1 announced this year, so it has to be FFVII Remake he was referring to. Yuji Abe already confirmed he's on FFVII Remake when he said he's on Kitase's next project. He's not on Mobius, so must be on FFVII Remake.

I say Daisuke Watanabe is on FFVII Remake, as there's no way Nojima will be able to write the entire FFVII Remake script by himself. He worked with Watanabe on FFX and FFX-2, so Watanabe may be assistant writer on FFVII Remake. For FFX, Nojima was listed as scenario writer, but in reality, Watanabe assisted with the script. Even on Crisis Core: FFVII, he was listed as the scenario writer, but again he never wrote it by himself. He was assisted by Sachie Hirano, who is now working in BD5 on FFXIV. I highly doubt Nojima will single-handedly write the entirety of FFVII Remake. That being said, there's no guarantee Watanabe will be his assistant writer this time, either.

I hope Hiroyuki Ito won't make FFXVI sequels, but if that's the only way to get games directed by him released quicker, I'm all for it.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

“XIV kind of is my baby. While it’s still in operation and in service, I don’t feel I can leave it,” he says. “I might not be fully hands-on, but the development team will always be consulting me about issues as they arise or issues they want my view on. I’ll always be involved.

“But, in the future, in terms of if there’s another project for me it kind of depends on what Square Enix as a company expects of me and what the players expect of me. There won’t be a case where I decide I really want to do a project so I’ll leave XIV and hand over the reigns – no, that will not happen."

So basically Yoshida can work on other projects. He's just not going to give up FFXIV completely. Not being fully hands-on suggests he's working on other things. It doesn't seem to matter how big or small these other projects are either as long as he can still be involved with FFXIV in some fashion.

*edit*

Here's a thought. Naoki Yoshida directing FFXVI. Hiroyuki Ito in charge of the battle system.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

So basically Yoshida can work on other projects. He's just not going to give up FFXIV completely. Not being fully hands-on suggests he's working on other things. It doesn't seem to matter how big or small these other projects are either as long as he can still be involved with FFXIV in some fashion.

*edit*

Here's a thought. Naoki Yoshida directing FFXVI. Hiroyuki Ito in charge of the battle system.

I think you're seeing what you want to see in that quote. Naoki Yoshida clearly says that he can't leave FFXIV while it is in service and also that he won't pass the torch to somebody else. I don't know how that equals him saying, "I can work on other projects."

The part with him saying he's not fully hands-on means nothing, as that's no different to how he rolled when developing ARR. He wasn't in the trenches for that game, but merely called the shots and checked the quality of every aspect that the staff were adding to the game. He didn't actually make any part of the game himself. Therefore, no. I can't see how Yoshida is saying he can work on other projects going off his statement.

MMOs are huge projects and he likes to give FFXIV a substantial update every few months, which is eventually followed by an expansion. He can't be Producer/Director of such a project and also be Producer/Director of another mainline FF concurrently. FFXIV is already too much on his plate and requires his full attention, which he's already stated. Then you've got all the Letter from the Producer Live videos he has to do and all the promotional tours to various game events, etc, etc. There's simply no space or time for him to be working on another mainline FF. It's just not feasible, as he's stretched too thin.

From a company and managerial perspective, I would expect SQEX board members to want the director of FFXVI to be 100% committed to that game so it releases in a timely manner. They wouldn't want somebody that's still tied to another mainline FF, especially a MMO that's still in service and requires continued, frequent updates and expansions.

Going off the IGN interview with Naoki Yoshida, which was released in June 2015, he hasn't even begun thinking about his next project yet, so how can he be directing FFXVI when as of June 2015, his next project doesn't even exist?

We already know that Hiroyuki Ito has been planning his next project for years. It was first mentioned in September 2012, which is when he said last-gen (PS3/Xbox 360) couldn't handle his ideas for the optimal version of ATB. Then in July 2013, Shinji Hashimoto told RPGSite that Ito had been planning and proposing ideas for a new project and that he was going very in-depth with the battle system and gameplay mechanics. Then in September 2013, Shinji Hashimoto told me at the KH I.5 HD ReMIX European launch that Ito has been planning his own project, but due to how much depth he's putting into the gameplay mechanics, it will take some time before it's announced. Then in February 2014, Yoshinori Kitase told me at the LRFFXIII European launch that he can't say if Ito will direct FFXVI, but that the reason Ito never worked on FFXIII trilogy, FFXIV, and FFXV is because he has his own team at SQEX Japan and is busy planning his own project. By all these accounts, Ito has already spent years planning for this project. He's way ahead of Naoki Yoshida, who hasn't even started thinking about his next project as of June 2015. Now, with the FFXIV headcount being reduced to 20-25% of its original ARR size, it seems Ito's project has finally been given more staff and development ramped up.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Naoki Yoshida credited in the "Special Thanks" section of FFXVI, especially seeing as the game is likely being developed in the same Business Division as FFXIV. However, nothing has changed regarding the FFXVI leading candidate: that person remains Hiroyuki Ito. Until I see some strong evidence that indicates otherwise, I'm going to continue believing this; it's the theory that has the most amount of evidence supporting it.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

There is really nothing in that quote suggesting that he can only work on FFXIV and nothing else. All Yoshida is really saying is that he'll still be involved with FFXIV even if he does work on other projects.

Going off the IGN interview with Naoki Yoshida, which was released in June 2015, he hasn't even begun thinking about his next project yet, so how can he be directing FFXVI when as of June 2015, his next project doesn't even exist?

Well, you have already provided one possible answer to that.

"But if I were to consider doing a new project, I’d love to do something completely in secret and tell no one. Then get it polished up to a playable level and suddenly reveal it. I’d love to surprise people by doing that.” -Yoshida

It's not like anyone within Square Enix can start talking about FFXVI right now so...

 

[1Truth2Lies]

There is really nothing in that quote suggesting that he can only work on FFXIV and nothing else. All Yoshida is really saying is that he'll still be involved with FFXIV even if he does work on other projects.



Well, you have already provided one possible answer to that.



It's not like anyone within Square Enix can start talking about FFXVI right now so...

I think the problem is that you're reading the quote out of context. The question was with regards to if he'd ever leave FFXIV. Yoshida makes it clear that he won't leave it, as it's his baby. He then goes on to say that in the future, if he's asked to do another project by the company, he'd like to develop it in secret and tell nobody about it until it's close to mastering up. This means he will be focused on FFXIV. It's only after the game reaches near the end of its 10 year life-cycle that he will consider doing something new. Nowhere does he indicate that he'll juggle FFXIV with another AAA project at this point in time.

If Yoshida says he won't move off FFXIV right now, then he won't move off FFXIV. End of discussion. No need to start a conspiracy theory that he's telling a lie to the media and is secretly making FFXVI on the side. If he was really doing that, he'd never tell the media that he'd love to make a game in secret, as he'd then already have ruined the surprise. He'd keep that shit on the down low.

Also, there's one point I'll bring up that further supports that Yoshida is not directing FFXVI or even working on it. Back in February 2014, he said that he'll constantly bring new content to FFXIV so it stays relevant even after FFXV and FFXVI release.

"We plan to incorporate a lot of content with all future patches," Yoshida says. It's part of his plan to stay relevant as the series continues moving forward. "I'm sure there will be a Final Fantasy 15 and 16, but we will constantly try to bring in fresh, new material for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn."

http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/13/54...ystation-4-launch-is-just-the-start-for-naoki

So in June 2015, he went on record to say he can't leave FFXIV, as he views it as his baby. Only in the future will he consider doing another project. Then, to add to this, he has said back in February 2014 that he's sure there will be both a FFXV and FFXVI, so he will do his best to keep making new content for FFXIV so it stays relevant.

All evidence points to Yoshida not working on FFXVI. The game is instead being helmed by another director (Ito).

 

[LeonBlade]

All evidence points to Yoshida not working on FFXVI. The game is instead being helmed by another director (Ito).

Yeah, I completely agree.

 

[Sora96]

It's not impossible for one developer like Yoshida to work on multiple projects at the same time. Regardless what he says, chances are he is still working on something else outside of FFXIV and like every other developer, he's not given the priveliege to leak any details of the other project(s).

And when someone does that we have another Versus XIII. We are not going back down that road. If Yoshida wanted to produce XVI, maybe. But there's no way someone should be directing two massive titles at once.

 

[Sora96]

That's not always the case. You're saying as if one developer works on multiple projects, it'll end something as long as Versus XIII? That's insane to say so. There have been many developers in and out of Square working on huge games be it AAA or indie, it happens and it's normal.

I never said he'd direct more than one project but rather work on multiple projects. However, him directing more than one game is not impossible and if I'm not mistaken, Versus XIII underwent more problems than just the director so it's not valid to use Versus XIII as evidence to suggest a downfall on FFXVI if Yoshida were to direct more than one game at the same time.

I didn't say multiple projects. I'm all for someone to direct a big game and a smaller game. Otherwise Toriyama wouldn't have made XII's sequel. I meant two big games.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

It's not impossible for one developer like Yoshida to work on multiple projects at the same time. Regardless what he says, chances are he is still working on something else outside of FFXIV and like every other developer, he's not given the priveliege to leak any details of the other project(s).

People are still bringing this up? Yoshida has already said this past June that he won't leave FFXIV. Only in the future will he consider doing another project. If you believe Yoshida's actually working on something outside FFXIV right now, even when he says he's not, you're being no different from a conspiracy theorist. You have little evidence to support your belief besides your own speculation.

Myself, on the contrary, have assembled enough corroborated evidence that points to Ito being at the helm of FFXVI. This ain't wishful thinking on my part. There's evidence to back up the belief.

Also, @Sora96 is right. There's no way Yoshida will be able to direct both FFXIV and FFXVI concurrently. Two AAA games being helmed by one man, with one even being a MMO that requires continued patches, expansions, and his active communication with the player community? No chance. You're dreaming, bro.

 

[Sora96]

People are still bringing this up? Yoshida has already said this past June that he won't leave FFXIV. Only in the future will he consider doing another project. If you believe Yoshida's actually working on something outside FFXIV right now, even when he says he's not, you're being no different from a conspiracy theorist. You have little evidence to support your belief besides your own speculation.

Myself, on the contrary, have assembled enough corroborated evidence that points to Ito being at the helm of FFXVI. This ain't wishful thinking on my part. There's evidence to back up the belief.

Also, @Sora96 is right. There's no way Yoshida will be able to direct both FFXIV and FFXVI concurrently. Two AAA games being helmed by one man, with one even being a MMO that requires continued patches, expansions, and his active communication with the player community? Not chance. You're dreaming, bro.

I have to agree, your evidence is very impressive. I myself have tried to do the same for Toriyama and narrowed it down to X-3, VII Remake, Front Mission, Parasite Eve or another FF spin-off but I don't have enough that even gives myself a lot of confidence. Haha. Which is why at the moment I feel like he has a leading role on VII Remake and is directing another title in Parasite Eve or Front Mission or perhaps pre-production on a new X game that can't go ahead until XV is done.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

I have to agree, your evidence is very impressive. I myself have tried to do the same for Toriyama and narrowed it down to X-3, VII Remake, Front Mission, Parasite Eve or another FF spin-off but I don't have enough that even gives myself a lot of confidence. Haha. Which is why at the moment I feel like he has a leading role on VII Remake and is directing another title in Parasite Eve or Front Mission or perhaps pre-production on a new X game that can't go ahead until XV is done.

Thanks for complimenting my evidence. You'd think that me taking the time to assimilate all that evidence and making it into a well-presented thread would land me some respect, but instead I received the opposite. People just love jumping on the hate bandwagon, I guess. You being a Motomu Toriyama fan, I'm sure you know what I mean.

As for what Toriyama is working on now, I think that you'll know by the end of the year. If no other AAA game is announced by BD1, he's on FFVII Remake. Personally, I'm 80% sure he's on that project, as he was a very important staff member of the original FFVII. Personally, I really hope he's the Event Director, as that will allow him to just focus on the cutscene and narrative pacing, which is his speciality.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

You seriously did not understand the point I made earlier.

The point I made was not about Yoshida directing FFXVI. You're going out of context to the point I made here. I have no idea who will direct the game, my point is that it's very possible for one to direct multiple projects at once, be it an MMO or a single player game.

Actually, it was. Go back and read your previous post. You said that the VersusXIII situation would not be a downfall on FFXVI if Yoshida were to direct more than one project at once. If that's not what you meant to say, please improve the clarity of your posts. Even your new adjusted point is irrelevant in this discussion.

You'd be surprised.... And you sound like as if he's the only one making everything happen.... You're sorely wrong on that. There's a reason why there's a team behind every game and behind every game consists of people that makes other choices happen other than him so he ain't the only one calling the shots there buddy, even though he governs it in a sense. Depending on whatever games he's working on, there will obviously be a higher priority over another.

If you'd like me to go into detail about the particular kind of game development, I will if you ask but I've only given a summary above to give a simple understanding of it.

It's actually you that would be surprised. Your ignorance is your downfall in this regards and what makes this discussion irrelevant. To educate you, it actually is Yoshida that's making everything happen on FFXIV. That's why he's not in the trenches doing hands-on work with the game. His role covers every single aspect of FFXIV, even down to the promotion and marketing. He has assistants and section leaders in all these areas, but he's the one calling the shots. The only people above him are SQEX management and the board members. However, for FFXIV itself, he has final word on everything. So can a man so deeply invested in a MMO, which is still in operation and receives constant updates, work on another totally different project concurrently? Unlikely. Has Yoshida already said he won't move off FFXIV? Yes.

I will repeat so I don't have to hear from you saying whatever claims you have made:
I. Am. Not. Talking. About. FFXVI. Being. Directed. By. Yoshida.

So please understand that..... Please. I have no reason to argue on speculation because it'll get neither of us nowhere and to me, it's a waste of time.

So if you're not talking about Yoshida directing FFXVI, you've got nothing to say. That's where this thread is at right now and what's the point of discussion. Your contribution is meaningless.

It's not a case of me arguing your speculation, either. It's more me putting you in your place. If you want to make a claim, present evidence to support it. Don't just say something out of the blue with nothing to back it up. People can juggle different projects, yes, that's true. However, Yoshida has said he won't move off FFXIV. I've also now informed you, as you clearly didn't know this, that he's deeply rooted within FFXIV. He can't really put his roots in a foreign soil right now. Your speculation is weak, which is all I'm addressing. I don't mean to offend or start beef, as I'm sure the tone of this post is coming off harsh and I know you're somebody that doesn't like me, so I'll conclude swiftly. I'd prefer if people actually did some research before throwing ideas into this thread. Me having to shoot down unsupported beliefs with evidence I got months ago is annoying and just leads to people getting offended.

"Oh, great... 1Truth is back. I hate this guy. He hates FFXV and only posts about FFXVI. Worse still, he's convinced Ito's directing it. If you mention somebody else that could be directing the game, he goes into shitstorm mode and starts arguing with you. What a douche bag."

That's not how I roll.

I'm more than ready to being proven wrong and shown that there's somebody else more likely on FFXVI besides Ito. If people have another strong candidate to suggest, then bring your evidence to support your claim. Don't just come in the thread and say a name with no evidence to back you up. Then when i shoot it down, y'all start acting up. That's just leads to unnecessary feuds. I'd have my fill of beef, let's tread lightly, shall we?

 

[Sora96]

Thanks for complimenting my evidence. You'd think that me taking the time to assimilate all that evidence and making it into a well-presented thread would land me some respect, but instead I received the opposite. People just love jumping on the hate bandwagon, I guess. You being a Motomu Toriyama fan, I'm sure you know what I mean.

As for what Toriyama is working on now, I think that you'll know by the end of the year. If no other AAA game is announced by BD1, he's on FFVII Remake. Personally, I'm 80% sure he's on that project, as he was a very important staff member of the original FFVII. Personally, I really hope he's the Event Director, as that will allow him to just focus on the cutscene and narrative pacing, which is his speciality.

Pretty much.

Yeah, stuff like making Cloud's "showing off" pose, Cloud cross-dressing, making Aerith important etc. I do too, the reason FFX is my favourite FF game is due to the story and cutscenes and he was of course incharge of that.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

Pretty much.

Yeah, stuff like making Cloud's "showing off" pose, Cloud cross-dressing, making Aerith important etc. I do too, the reason FFX is my favourite FF game is due to the story and cutscenes and he was of course incharge of that.

I may not be as big a Motomu Toriyama fan as you are, but I still think the man is competent. I will never agree or participate in any hate he gets. I loved what he did on FFVII. If he hadn't made the Midgar section so compelling, myself and many other people would have given up on the game before the party reaches the World Map for the first time. I loved the build up of romance between Cloud and Aerith over the course of disc 1, as that really did make her death have a bigger impact by the end of the disc. The man is good at slowly evolving romance over the course of a game. He again did this on FFX, which many people love. FFVIII had no Toriyama involved, which is why the love story is so inferior to Cloud/Aerith and Tidus/Yuna. I really don't get the hate the man gets. Ignorant people are just jumping on his hate bandwagon without finding out what the man has actually done.

So he fucked up on FFXIII and made the game too linear? Well, FFX was even more linear than FFXIII. Nobody had a problem with that. Furthermore, it wasn't even Toriyama that decided on the linearity. That decision came from Kitase, who was basing it on the Interactive Movie blueprint he created for FFX. On the contrary, when Toriyama is both directing a game and in charge of the narrative structure, he prefers to go for a more open and mission-based method. FFX-2, FFXII RW, Blood of Bahamut FFXIII-2, and LRFFXIII all had this.

Also, it's ironic how people piss and shit on Toriyama's career and leave Nomura unscathed, especially when Nomura conceived and creatively produced the worst Final Fantasy in history. Nowhere in Toriyama's track record is a game that abysmal.

It's as I've said. People are just jumping on the Toriyama hate bandwagon without doing their research on the man's contributions to the FF series over the years.

 

[Sora96]

I may not be as big a Motomu Toriyama fan as you are, but I still think the man is competent. I will never agree or participate in any hate he gets. I loved what he did on FFVII. If he hadn't made the Midgar section so compelling, myself and many other people would have given up on the game before the party reaches the World Map for the first time. I loved the build up of romance between Cloud and Aerith over the course of disc 1, as that really did make her death have a bigger impact by the end of the disc. The man is good at slowly evolving romance over the course of a game. He again did this on FFX, which many people love. FFVIII had no Toriyama involved, which is why the love story is so inferior to Cloud/Aerith and Tidus/Yuna. I really don't get the hate the man gets. Ignorant people are just jumping on his hate bandwagon without finding out what the man has actually done.

So he fucked up on FFXIII and made the game too linear? Well, FFX was even more linear than FFXIII. Nobody had a problem with that. Furthermore, it wasn't even Toriyama that decided on the linearity. That decision came from Kitase, who was basing it on the Interactive Movie blueprint he created for FFX. On the contrary, when Toriyama is both directing a game and in charge of the narrative structure, he prefers to go for a more open and mission-based method. FFX-2, FFXII RW, Blood of Bahamut FFXIII-2, and LRFFXIII all had this.

Also, it's ironic how people piss and shit on Toriyama's career and leave Nomura unscathed, especially when Nomura conceived and creatively produced the worst Final Fantasy in history. Nowhere in Toriyama's track record is a game that abysmal.

It's as I've said. People are just jumping on the Toriyama hate bandwagon without doing their research on the man's contributions to the FF series over the years.

Exactly, and I love that.

And yeah, in regards to Nomura you've even got Tabata literally saying "Versus XIII is a game that never really took shape" and yet people got soooo excited about him directing VII Remake. Lol. And for me personally, I like Tabata I quite enjoyed Type-0 HD and The 3rd Birthday, playing Crisis Core soon. And I've enjoyed the core KH games but that's where Nomura should stick his directing, maybe then KH3 would have more than one proper trailer since it started development in 2010. Lol.

 

[APZonerunner]

Just straight up deleting posts about 'beefs' - from both sides - for the record. Keep it on topic to the debate at hand or don't post, ta. There's good debates to be had here, making it personal isn't helping it tho.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

With Tabata confirming that FFXV will release in 2016, it leaves the door open for FFXVI to be announced in 2017. Anybody that has been paying attention to my "Hiroyuki Ito directing FFXVI" theory, will know I've been saying 2017 is the most likely year for the announcement. That's the year of Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary.

If SQEX plan to announce FFXVI in 2017, I expect them to also show footage of the title, not just say they're making it. FFXV will already be released worldwide by then, so they'll need to show something substantial to ensure there's no gap in people's anticipation for the next mainline FF. Also, I believe they'll want a really heavy-hitting announcement to celebrate the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary. That being the case, the game will have to be pretty far along for any footage to be shown. This gives further weight to Hiroyuki Ito working on the game, as he's the only prolific FF director not attached to any announced AAA projects right now, and has not been for a good few years.

Yosuke Matsuda, SQEX President, said at E3 2015 that despite FFVII Remake being announced, the company is still primarily focused on continually evolving mainline Final Fantasy with new installments, with the FFVII Remake only being a special exception. This makes it apparent that FFXVI is also in development, as FFVII Remake is not internally seen as the next big mainline title to follow FFXV.

GamesBeat: Does [the positive reaction to the FFVII Remake trailer at the Sony conference] give you any dilemma about doing remakes as opposed to doing brand new Final Fantasy games?

Matsuda: Regarding remakes, we’ll look into doing them if there is consumer demand. That said, at our core is creating new Final Fantasy games. The core value of Final Fantasy is to continue to test the limits and create unique new experiences that exceed the previous titles. That’s where we’re at with the brand. That’s always at the base of it. Final Fantasy VII was a special case, in light of that core value.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/17/s...tomb-raider-and-making-global-games/view-all/

Matsuda's words corroborate with Hiroyuki Ito working on FFXVI. Ito has been working on his next project since as far back as 2010, yet this project has still not been publicly announced. On the other hand, FFVII Remake only started in 2014 and was announced in 2015. Ito's title, which is being designed as the next mainline Final Fantasy to follow FFXV, is therefore being given a significantly longer development time than the FFVII Remake.

Also, with Tabata confirming that FFVII Remake is not using Luminous Studio, some people were happy with the news, as to them it meant the game would potentially be made quicker. However, I saw something else with this announcement. Back at E3 2012, when Luminous Studio was first announced, Yoichi Wada (SQEX President at the time) said it would be used for future, mainline Final Fantasy games. Current SQEX President Yosuke Matsuda's words in the quote above clarify that future, mainline Final Fantasy games do not include remakes of past titles, but instead refers to brand new titles. This is likely one of the reasons why FFVII Remake does not require use of Luminous Studio. Also, to add to this, back in December 2014, Akira Iwata (Lead Artist for Luminous Studio) said that FFXV was not the only game in development using the engine. If both the FFVII Remake and KHIII aren't using Luminous Studio, what other game is? There must be another AAA Final Fantasy game being worked on behind closed doors.

Iwata: Luminous Studio is in version 1.4 at the moment. The FFXV demo included with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD will be ver. 1.5 and the plan is for the final production of FFXV to be ver. 2.0, upgrading as needed. Currently, the FFXV development team and the Luminous Studio engine development team are working as one on FFXV. At the current stage, I can’t speak concretely about titles in development using Luminous Studio besides FFXV, but I can firmly say that it isn’t an engine build solely for FFXV.

http://sqex.info/ffxv-luminous-studios-developer-interviews-part-1/

At this point, there's enough evidence to support both FFXVI existing and Hiroyuki Ito being the game's director. Fore me, it's now just a waiting game for the official announcement in 2017. Until that day comes, I'll continue to collect evidence that supports FFXVI being Hiroyuki Ito's return to the limelight. However, I'm no longer collecting this evidence to convince myself and others. The writing is on the wall at this point: FFXVI is already in dev and Ito is working on it.

 

[LeonBlade]

Also, to add to this, back in December 2014, Akira Iwata (Lead Artist for Luminous Studio) said that FFXV was not the only game in development using the engine. If both the FFVII Remake and KHIII aren't using Luminous Studio, what other game is? There must be another AAA Final Fantasy game being worked on behind closed doors.

This is what I was thinking about. People were confused by FFVII Remake not using Luminous and saying that Luminous is just going to be the next Crystal Tools, but I completely disagree. Luminous is still being worked on and we won't see another game using it until XV comes out and the engine is actually done. We know that a branch of Luminous Engine was used in XIV and that Luminous Engine is being developed along side of XV and not integrated with the actual game's engine. Simply put, this means that the engine will be able to be used on other projects without needing to pull the code from XV meaning that current projects can take advantage of the engine right now as it's being developed.

I'd like to believe that Luminous Engine would be used on XVI as there isn't anything that is proving it wouldn't be. Some people have voiced opinions saying that SE would be leaning towards third party engines such as Unreal for future titles, but I completely disagree. SE are too prideful to not use their own engine on their mainline series Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts is in a different position as it needs to be hurried along in development. On top of this, Kingdom Hearts has its own unique style and is led by a division that has no idea how to use Luminous. They needed to make the switch so that they could get the game off the ground and under way.

It's very likely that anyone who worked from the XII staff on XIV early on in development that may have some experience with Luminous from the branch used in XIV would have some idea of the codebase. On top of that, being that XVI is likely in the works and would be in secret, the team can study the engine's workings and learn how to use it now over time without worrying about anything as it hasn't been formally announced yet.

So, in short, with XVI not being announced to the public, and the Luminous Engine being developed along side XV and not integrated with it, the Luminous Engine has the potential to be used on future titles. It seems like FFXVI could very well be using Luminous Engine for development.

 

[Sora96]

This is what I was thinking about. People were confused by FFVII Remake not using Luminous and saying that Luminous is just going to be the next Crystal Tools, but I completely disagree. Luminous is still being worked on and we won't see another game using it until XV comes out and the engine is actually done. We know that a branch of Luminous Engine was used in XIV and that Luminous Engine is being developed along side of XV and not integrated with the actual game's engine. Simply put, this means that the engine will be able to be used on other projects without needing to pull the code from XV meaning that current projects can take advantage of the engine right now as it's being developed.

I'd like to believe that Luminous Engine would be used on XVI as there isn't anything that is proving it wouldn't be. Some people have voiced opinions saying that SE would be leaning towards third party engines such as Unreal for future titles, but I completely disagree. SE are too prideful to not use their own engine on their mainline series Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts is in a different position as it needs to be hurried along in development. On top of this, Kingdom Hearts has its own unique style and is led by a division that has no idea how to use Luminous. They needed to make the switch so that they could get the game off the ground and under way.

It's very likely that anyone who worked from the XII staff on XIV early on in development that may have some experience with Luminous from the branch used in XIV would have some idea of the codebase. On top of that, being that XVI is likely in the works and would be in secret, the team can study the engine's workings and learn how to use it now over time without worrying about anything as it hasn't been formally announced yet.

So, in short, with XVI not being announced to the public, and the Luminous Engine being developed along side XV and not integrated with it, the Luminous Engine has the potential to be used on future titles. It seems like FFXVI could very well be using Luminous Engine for development.

In regards to KH3, it's also almost certain they're working with another developer. Likely a developer in India. Plus you've got Disney, and if I'm not mistaken any games they've "made" used Unreal Engine.

 

[1Truth2Lies]

So, in short, with XVI not being announced to the public, and the Luminous Engine being developed along side XV and not integrated with it, the Luminous Engine has the potential to be used on future titles. It seems like FFXVI could very well be using Luminous Engine for development.

Agreed.

Also, as you've correctly stated, SQEX are way too prideful to not develop FFXVI on their own in-house engine, especially when you consider how much money, staff, and resources they are still pumping into it till this day. Luminous Studio definitely has other games coming besides FFXV, and I'm certain FFXVI is one of them.

The best thing about FFXV being the first to use the engine is that FFXVI will not have to worry too much about the engine itself. Instead, it can primarily focus on the game. FFXV's final release will use Luminous Studio 2.0, so when FFXVI fully ramps up in production, it will be using Luminous Studio 2.0 as the basis. This will mean development will go much quicker and smoother than FFXV. In the same 4 years that FFXV was being developed alongside the engine and therefore basically being used as testing ground, FFXVI can exclusively focus on the game, not the engine. Things like art direction, game design, storytelling, side-quests, etc, will all be at the forefront of FFXVI's development, not the engine itself. This will be the polar opposite to how FFXV was developed, as it had to wait for parts of the engine to be complete during development.

Don't get me wrong, the above paragraph is not an attack on FFXV. After all, there's many games that are developed alongside engines and turn out amazing, such as Crysis and Gears of War. However, for FFXVI, the engine being finished means that in the same 4 years FFXV took to develop (Tabata rebooted it in 2012 and it's releasing in 2016), FFXVI will be able to do so much more in that time due to all engine assets and features being complete. The 4 years can mainly focus on world scale, art direction, game design, battle system, storytelling, cutscenes, side-quests, mini-games, etc. These are all things which are important to making a great Final Fantasy game.