Final Fantasy XVI succeeded in getting younger fans into the series

Final Fantasy XVI may have been controversial at launch, but the action RPG was able to get a younger audience interested in the series. Considering how we’re in an era of remasters and remakes that are meant to please nostalgic fans, since new entries cater to younger fans is a good thing.

Takeo Kujiraoka, the game’s DLC director, talked with Push Square about the RPG’s impact, where he talked about attracting younger fans to this franchise. While this game wasn’t the sales juggernaut Square Enix wanted it to be, appealing to the youth is always good and will benefit in the long run.

“In recent years, players of the Final Fantasy series have tended to skew towards a higher age range,” Kujiraoka said. “However, this time, there are survey results showing that more people in their teens and 20s played Final Fantasy XVI. I think this shows that, to a certain extent, we’ve achieved one of our initial goals – to have players of all ages play the latest Final Fantasy game.”

With story beats inspired by Game of Thrones and Attack on Titan, it’s easy to see why Final Fantasy XVI struck a chord with the youth. Royal politics and cool transformations are an easy recipe for success, which is why we’re surprised the game didn’t do better at sales. Luckily, with a PC version coming soon, the game could get another boost in sales, especially since it will likely come with all the DLC.

Speaking of DLC, PS5 owners will soon gain access to the Rising Tide expansion later this week, giving fans more of that delicious gameplay. Unlike the previous DLC, this will have a lot more areas to explore, alongside more enemies to cut down. Fans won’t want to miss this when it comes out this Thursday.

Final Fantasy XVI is available now on PlayStation 5 and will be getting a PC version soon. The game’s Rising Tide DLC will be coming out on April 18.