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Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers’ director plays a lot of… Spider-Man

Final Fantasy XIV creator Yoshida finds his technical inspirations from some unexpected sources

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is set to release later this month and looks as lavish as its predecessors, boasting new jobs, new races, and a Nier Automata raid crossover. Something fans have enjoyed in recent livestreams is director Naoki Yoshida’s fondness for Spider-Man, and particularly his recent, well-received PS4 exclusive game. Speaking with PCGamesN, Yoshida expanded on this, and why it’s important for developers to keep up with the rest of the industry.

“I think it’s important as an engineer to keep up with new and modern day games,” Yoshida explains. “One of the games I do play a lot is Spider-Man. It’s really good in terms of game mechanics but also the creators were very particular about creating that game and they had a lot of love for the material.”

Insomniac’s take on Marvel’s superhero fulfills the Spider-Man fantasy by letting you swoop and soar through the concrete jungle of New York. Many critics felt the game had nailed this mechanically, which might be what Yoshida means here.

“There’s no specific game that I feel that has inspired me to add elements into FFXIV, but that being said, as an engineer, we need to look at the technology that is associated with FFXIV. For example, the graphics engine is something that’s from two generations ago”, Yoshida says. “I do need to make sure that my knowledge as a developer as well as my skills as an engineer do not degrade over time. I want to make sure that’s always refreshed.”

Yoshida’s love for Spider-Man goes so far that he mentions it during Final Fantasy XIV livestreams and actively tells viewers to play it. “I think that I was able to contribute to the sales of the game.” Yoshida jokes. “Especially in Japan, I was able to sell 5000 additional units just because I plugged it so much!”

Yoshida’s praise is not reserved for Marvel’s web-slinger: “Red Dead Redemption 2 is also a nice example. I’m sure it’s really difficult to create an open world game!” Sure, as a PC gamer it’s somewhat disheartening to hear Yoshida cite console exclusives as examples of technical prowess, but there we are, and let’s not take anything away from Rockstar or Insomniac.

Related: Prepare for Shadowbringers with our FFXIV leveling guide

The Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers release date is July 2 and, from what we know so far, will continue the game’s main quest that follows the player’s on a journey to become Warriors of Darkness. If your spidey senses are tingling, check out our best games like Spider-Man you can play on PC to scratch that itch.