The director of Final Fantasy XIV and producer of Final Fantasy XVI was joined by Taeko Kujiraoka (director of Final Fantasy XVI DLC) and localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox at PAX East to discuss a spin-off of the franchise.

Yoshi-P (aka Naoki Yoshida), Kujiraoka, and Koji Fox also expressed their support for Final Fantasy Tactics in an interview with TheGamer. It’s already clear that if a new game were to be made, it wouldn’t use the Final Fantasy XVI environment. Yoshida doesn’t want to use the same story only to have it turn into a different story, and Fox would jokingly call the concept Final Fantasy XVI Tactics.

Yoshida also doubts that the Eikons and their larger-scale battles would fit into a gridded, turn-based format. How many squares would an Eikon have, or what would happen during the wait while other characters acted? However, Yoshida believes that the current members of the Final Fantasy team are all fans of the Tactics spin-offs, which fit well with the story of Final Fantasy XVI, so he thinks it might be time for a new installment…

However, there are a lot of turn-based tactical games on the market these days, with Firaxis’ XCOM currently on hiatus and Nintendo’s Fire Emblem being a pretty big IP these days since Awakening. If Square Enix does decide to go ahead with a new Final Fantasy Tactics, would it be a cheaper to develop HD-2D concept? Or would the Japanese publisher go all out and create a 3D episode with a bigger budget?

Given the popularity of Final Fantasy, the game could sell itself on its name, regardless of which concept Square Enix chooses. It remains to be seen if Yoshida’s idea will actually get the green light. That’s up to the board, not them.

Source: PCGamer, TheGamer