How long has everyone been waiting for "Final Fantasy XV?" That's eight years of waiting, anticipating, and expecting since its initial production in 2006. And within those eight years, everyone is setting very high expectations of what the game will be like.
At E3 2014, fans anxiously anticipated the showing of the "Final Fantasy XV" preview and it did not disappoint. The human characters were sublime. They were hyper-realistic and no game right now could match it. However, that was all the info given at E3 since Square Enix didn't want to divulge any more details. What everyone knows is that the game is still being developed.
"Final Fantasy" fans are worried about the game, and they are really hoping that it will meet all their high expectations. On the other hand, Hajime Tabata, co-director of the game, has something else to worry about — the future of console gaming in Japan.
Japan's console market has not been doing well. In fact, it's down $1 billion from the mobile market, which is booming in Japan right now. Hence, this puts "Final Fantasy XV" on a pedestal together with hopes that it will revive the console market of Japan.
"Japanese market is shifting toward handheld or smartphone devices," Tabata told Kotaku. "It's pretty unique to Japan, where everyone is transporting—they have long train rides and bus rides to work, they have time to play handheld devices, or they're spending more time in their own rooms vs. spending more time in the living room."
Tabata also said that mobile games are more accessible, but it isn't something he is used to doing. Still, Tabata hopes that the dying console market in Japan will be revitalized by "Final Fantasy XV."
"It's not to say that I don't have any concerns at all, but I believe that it'll really depend on how Final Fantasy XV does. Because I really want more people to enjoy games in the living room, on a big screen. If Final Fantasy XV doesn't do well, perhaps there's not much of a future for console games. It kind of really depends on how that goes," Tabata said.
According to Game Rant, there have been rumors that Square Enix is having financial problems, which is why the game is taking so long to develop. Nevertheless, even if it does, everyone is just hoping that "Final Fantasy XV" comes out as the game that will go down in the history books as the best ever.
