This year at PAX West, we had the opportunity to speak with Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi P. It was over a decade ago that I first heard this nickname for the Square Enix Producer, when a friend was eagerly telling me all about the failure of Final Fantasy XIV’s 1.0 launch.
She was overjoyed to tell me all the issues the game used to have, but her jubilation didn’t stem from the MMORPG’s abysmally poor state. Instead, she was excited to discuss the steps that Square Enix was taking to fix and relaunch the game, an effort she attributed largely to Yoshida.
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Using his diligent work ethic, professional experience, and a team of dedicated developers, Yoshi P saved the game from becoming a black mark on the company’s record. Although his career didn’t start or end with this feat, this pivotal career moment turned him into something of a superstar. As such, we wanted to know his feelings on his career, discussing his past, future, and how to stand out as a developer today.
Fun and uncertainty provide the necessary inspiration for Naoki Yoshida in gaming.
Naturally, our first question was how he felt spending over a decade working on Final Fantasy XIV. Starting with Final Fantasy XIV’s initial launch and continuing into the relaunch, known as A Realm Reborn, Yoshida has served as producer on every expansion since then. In addition to guiding the game’s direction, he also prioritized regularly sharing information on development with fans through his ‘Letter from the Producer’ series.
“I actually get a lot of this from [the] media, about ‘You’ve been on one project for a very long time. How do you feel?’ Of course, I am a game developer, but at the same time, I belong to Square Enix and I am a member of that company. The company desires for the game to continue as long as we possibly can,” explained Yoshida. He continued, “And so that’s why I am enjoying the process of delivering content to the players. I mean, it’s a lot of fun for me. So whenever I’m asked about it, I respond to them ‘I continue because it’s fun.’”
As far as where he pictured his career going, Yoshida stated that he didn’t have a concrete vision of his future, but that his role in saving Final Fantasy XIV would have changed things immensely anyway. He mentions that taking over on Final Fantasy XIV was a very unusual situation, admitting, “Usually, a title that was failing would typically be closed, or you would admit that it’s a failure and try to improve the best you can, but we were going to restart a project from scratch.”
He laughed as he continued further. “I think that was something that was never done before. I think that even if I had a picture or an image of what my future was going to be, if I knew what was going to happen with jumping on board to [Final Fantasy XIV] and tried to tell that to [Square Enix], people would probably doubt my sanity.” These unusual circumstances would throw the best laid plans into disarray, but Yoshida explained, “I didn’t have a very detailed vision or picture of what I wanted to do in the future, and I think that’s what makes it fun.”
Next, we asked Yoshida what he’d learned about himself over the course of his career. After a dozen years on one project, and with various roles on others before and since, Yoshida simply stated, “To not give up.” He then moved on to speak in depth about his struggles with procrastination in his younger days, citing a Japanese saying that loosely translates to, “This moment now is the moment that connects to everything.”
His mother played an important role in his work ethic: “My mother would always tell me, ‘Naoki, I know you can do it, so why not do it now? Because somebody is going to be looking out for you and it’s going to impact you in the future.’” Yoshida admitted that there were often cases where somebody would take notice of his diligence and they’d offer their skills or advice, creating great opportunities for him. He concluded, “Now that I’ve kind of experienced that, I feel like I’m understanding what my mother had told me.”
Despite working on Final Fantasy XIV, we wanted to know what moments Yoshida was proudest of, including and beyond righting the ship on the MMORPG. He humbly rejected the question, “I’m not that good a person to think about ‘Well, I’m so proud of this.’” Instead, his pride lay in the people who played his games, “Experiencing different online games – MMORPGs from the past – I think having the best community with Final Fantasy XIV is definitely one of my proudest moments.”
Personally, though, Yoshida was happy that his work afforded him the means to look after his parents: “If I were to raise another [proud moment], I mentioned my mother earlier, our home was never…well, we were rather poor, to be frank. My mother would be working very hard to make ends meet. She’s a very skilled salesperson. She’s very good at producing results in terms of her company’s sales.”
His parents, particularly his mother, laid down the foundation for who he is today.
Yoshida’s encouragement from his mother in his youth and his eventual success at Square Enix allowed him to repay his parents: “But now that I have gotten into the workforce and can make my own money, I help support them as well. I think that wouldn’t have been possible if I weren’t successful myself, to support them. I’m hoping that I’m able to repay my mom, in terms of showing her gratitude for working so hard for the family.”
With that, we turned to the future – not just his, but the game industry’s in general. With decades of experience under his belt, we wanted to know if he had any advice for younger developers trying to succeed in the industry. After some thinking, he gave us an answer that could apply to multiple disciplines in the industry, telling us, “The advice I would like to give is to actively look for tasks or work that people do not want to do, so to speak, because that’s where your opportunity and your chance will lie.” Yoshida elaborated, “For example, a task that has a high likelihood of failure. I know people tend to stay away from work like that.”
Yoshida continued, “Another category would be tasks that even if you accomplish them, it doesn’t really show results, like numerical or quantifiable results, or you don’t get the acclaim or fame from them. So tasks or work that you feel you don’t want to do, I’m sure, is viewed in a very similar way by other people as well. If you actively go after them, the first response you’ll get is almost 100% you will be thanked, whether it be from your boss, your subordinate, or your colleagues; they’d be very appreciative that you picked up that job or task.”
Yoshida went on to explain, “In terms of tasks that I mentioned earlier, there’s a high likelihood of failure. [If] you pick that task up and you did end up failing, nobody’s going to be surprised, or they won’t blame you because ‘We already knew that there was a high likelihood of failure.’ But, on the flip side, if you take on that task and you actually succeed, it’ll show something different, whether it be in your approach or the amount of work you put in. It shows that you were able to take this very difficult task and successfully resolve it. And so that allows for people’s perspective of you to change.”
On the topic of advice, Yoshida concluded, “I would encourage everyone to give it their all, especially for tasks that are assigned to them. You want to provide 100%, if not better, for those tasks that are specifically given to you, because it’s expected that you are capable of doing those. But don’t pick the easy jobs, per se, all the time, because in the end, it’s easy enough for anyone to do, and other people can probably produce the same kind of result.
That’s why I encourage you to go after those tasks or jobs that people may not want to do, because it could lead to your personal growth. It could lead to you learning things that would allow you to be successful, especially for young people aspiring to be developers. You’re young, you still have the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from it.”
Our final question for the veteran producer involved focusing on his most recent projects: Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI. Specifically, after working simultaneously as a producer on the two projects, we wanted to know if Yoshida would enter a similar situation in the future. Unsurprisingly, the answer was a little complicated.
Yoshida stated, “That’s a tough question because, even with Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice Chronicles, it’s being developed by [Creative Studio 3]. And because I’m a studio head, apparently, my title in the project is Executive Producer. There are tasks that I still have to do for Tactics, like making sure development is progressing, [or] providing advice where needed.”
Yoshida’s #1 bit of advice – Give it your all!
As the head of Creative Studio 3, Yoshida is inherently needed on whatever projects the studio is working on, he explained: “There are always some tasks that are related to different projects, because I am leading this very large group of people under Creative Studio 3. So I don’t think there’s ever a time when I’m focusing on one single project.”
Additionally, his role as a member of Square Enix’s Board comes with its own responsibilities, he added, “I would be overseeing things that are going on in the company in general. For example, if we have the latest title in the Dragon Quest franchise and they require some help or assistance, I would have to look at what’s going on within the company and see if there is a need to either assist or see if people need to be sent to different sections so they can cover [the work]. ”
When it comes to working on two Final Fantasy projects, however, Yoshida admits, “ I feel like having two Final Fantasy projects going on or having to manage both at the same time might be… I think I’ve had enough of that.” His priority, of course, is to deliver high-quality content for players, regardless of the franchise, and as quickly as possible.
As our time together came to an end, Yoshida reiterated his steadfast work ethic and his commitment to the game that changed his life, “As long as I am a member of Square Enix, I want to give it my all to support that. And so, of course, I think that kind of hinges on making sure that [Final Fantasy] XIV is running well, and having my focus on that as well.”
Truly, Naoki Yoshida has had a long, fruitful career full of accomplishments and surprises, but it’s not over. There are plenty of years left to learn more about himself, achieve wonderful new accomplishments and help guide his colleagues, new and old. Nobody knows where the future will take the legendary producer, him least of all, but we should all keep watching.
Final Fantasy XIV Patch 7.3 is currently available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
