Director Talks Of FFXV’s Future And Interest In Nintendo Switch

Hajime Tabata is the director of the ambitious fifteenth installment to the legendary Final Fantasy franchise, which was well-received despite numerous setbacks. In a recent interview, he spoke of what is in store for Final Fantasy XV and revealed his interests in developing something for Nintendo’s new Switch console/handheld hybrid.

Tabata first became well known for his work on some of Square Enix’s most popular handheld games, including the fan-favorite Final Fantasy Crisis Core. The latest notch on his resume is FFXV, which by all accounts was no small feat. Polygon recently caught up with the rising video game star for a lengthy chat about the title and his reported interest in creating a game for the Switch.

Among the new features that Tabata is planning to implement with the JRPG is a multiplayer feature. This isn’t exactly a new concept for the series since two of its numbered games have been MMORPGs. However, what Tabata has in store for FFXV is different because it’s the first time that a title in the franchise starts out single player and then converted afterward into multiplayer.

"There are a lot of things I can't really say about the multiplayer future just yet, but it will tie into the game — the main game — at some point in the story,” Tabata explains. “And for the multiplayer feature, we are less focused on playing as the four main characters but rather as an avatar that the user creates themselves."

As for the Switch, Tabata confessed that the hybrid nature of the Nintendo’s new offering fascinates and confuses him, Cinemablend notes. On the one hand, Tabata clearly has the skills to create an incredible handheld game. He just doesn’t know how to approach the Switch yet, which is a huge obstacle that he needs to overcome in order to create amazing titles for the console.