Final Fantasy XIV Director Naoki Yoshida Discusses the Next Decade

During Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026 in Anaheim, California, director Naoki Yoshida (also known as Yoshi-P) hosted a press-exclusive panel to discuss all of the upcoming changes to the game, including the newly announced expansion, Evercold. He also discussed the Evangelion collaboration, as well as the Nintendo Switch 2 port that's coming later.

Final Fantasy XIV will have a crossover with the Evangelion series, titled “Ghosts of Desire,” and will be an alliance raid in the Evercold expansion. Yoshida said that he spoke with Khara Inc extensively about this. Unfortunately, he said that he couldn't provide any more details about the collaboration, but did note that discussions were at a “very rapid pace” so that it could be announced at the festival, indicating that perhaps development is on the fast track. However, he's preparing to reveal more information at the European and Japanese fan festivals later this year, too.

Yoshida also went through the thought process of choosing the name, “Evercold.” Originally, he wanted the expansion to be called “Absolute Zero,” but it was ultimately rejected. As the name implies, Yoshida wanted to go along with a theme that encompassed everything around the world being frozen. It can also be interpreted metaphorically, with how a person's heart can grow cold and icy.

Yoshida mentioned the names of previous expansions, including Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker. For Stormblood, “Rebellion” was also a name that was considered, but it was rejected for various reasons, including legal ones. For the Shadowbringers, “Darkbringer” was a potential name, as well as “World's End” for Endwalker, which were all turned down.

Evercold has some Norse influences, particularly in its architecture. Yoshida actually noted that the team tried to obscure those references in the reveal trailer, but that didn't escape eagle-eyed viewers. He was impressed that someone brought it up and that more information about Evercold's mythology inspirations will be revealed at a later date.

In Evercold, there will be two new jobs, a tank and a ranged DPS role. Yoshida mentioned that internal data shows that a majority of players prefer DPS roles, which is why the team always tries to introduce one new DPS job. Additionally, the last tank job, the Gunbreaker, was introduced in 2019 with the Shadowbringers expansion. So it's about time that another tank would be added. The two new jobs weren't formally introduced yet, but of course, more info will be shared later.

Evercold will see the release of some new features and overhauls, including same-region matchmaking and an “Evolved Mode” for its job system, which is meant to streamline controls and button presses. But those who prefer the original job system can stick with “Reborn Mode,” which acts as a “classic” experience.

Yoshida decided to allow players the choice of both, instead of forcing the new approach onto players. He referenced the Star Wars Galaxies MMO. In 2005, the game implemented an update that drastically changed how the game was played. The playerbase absolutely hated it, and Yoshida wanted to avoid a similar reaction.

Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in August, and Yoshida assured that the development team is pulling out all the stops to make it a fun experience on the hybrid machine. For example, built-in mouse controls will be supported, which is important considering MMOs are typically played best on PCs with mouse and keyboard setups. Furthermore, the game will perform well and maintain a stable 30fps, even when player count is high.

Lastly, Yoshida talked about the future of the game. He expressed interest in a spin-off. Who would be the best people to work on such a project? Well, the Final Fantasy XIV developers, of course! However, the current team's focus is on the main game, but a spin-off would be possible in the future if the current team retires. Additionally, Yoshida is open to the idea of having other studios take on a project like that.

Yoshida closed the panel, saying that he would like Final Fantasy XIV to continue for the next decade, and beyond, even after his own retirement. He hopes to achieve the same storytelling highs that the previous expansions brought to the table, and that starts with Evercold.