History Creator / NaokiYoshida

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'''Naoki Yoshida''' (born May 1, 1973) is a developer for Creator/SquareEnix whose greatest claim to fame is salvaging the now [[RunningGag career-upendingly popular]] MMORPG ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', in so doing saving the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' franchise, as well as Square Enix itself, from the brink of financial oblivion.

What distinguishes Yoshida among his peers is how closely he works with the playerbase of ''FFXIV'' in development, maintaining a great deal of transparency through blog posts and a "Letter from the Producer" livestream series to keep players apprised of changes and additions coming to the game. He also enjoys playing [=MMORPGs=], himself, taking inspiration from western influences like ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' and ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.

After his successes with Final Fantasy XIV gave Yoshida an increasingly large amount of respect, eventually earning him a position on the company's board of leadership, Yoshida was given the honor of being put in charge as the producer and direction of the next mainline final fantasy title, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''.

* RunningGag: Whenever cross-pollination between ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' comes up (like concerns about Yoshida's ability to work on both projects, or when talking about a {{crossover}} between the two games, Yoshida always makes a joke along the lines of "I would need to ask the producer of (XIV)/(XVI)" as thought they're different people.

Yoshida is currently heading production of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''.

* ProductionPosse: Composer Music/MasayoshiSoken, localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, art director Hiroshi Minagawa (of ''VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance'' fame), and director Hiroshi Takai are often part of the games he works on.

Yoshida was initially assigned to aid in the development of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games, but in 2010, he was transferred to another team and given an unenviable task: making a success out of ''Final Fantasy XIV''. At the time, ''FFXIV'' was a spectacular disaster, with the game being widely declared the absolute worst ''Final Fantasy'' game in the series and becoming a massive financial sink. Yoshida had been chosen as the new head leader of the development team for his experience, charisma, and passion for making players happy. Yoshida was not acquainted with any members of the ''FFXIV'' team at that time, and working with the game proved to be an arduous task. Under his leadership, however, Yoshida managed to make various additions and quality-of-life changes to ''FFXIV'', gradually improving the game's reception.

What distinguishes Yoshida among his peers is how closely he works with the playerbase of FFXIV in development, maintaining a great deal of transparency through blog posts and a "Letter from the Producer" livestream series to keep players apprised of changes and additions coming to the game. He also enjoys playing [=MMORPGs=], himself, taking inspiration from western influences like ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' and ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.

In what would be Square and Yoshida's make-or-break moment, ''Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn'' launched in 2013. To the surprise of the video game industry and players alike, [[WinBackTheCrowd the relaunched game was a massive critical and financial success]], recuperating the profits Square had lost on the original 1.0 version of the game and becoming a household name among [=MMORPGs=]. For many years after, the game would see continued success as Yoshida continued to head development, as well as finally achieving his dream of working with Creator/YasumiMatsuno with an ''VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance'' crossover questline in the FFXIV expansion ''Stormblood''.

Yoshida was initially assigned to aid in the development of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games, but in 2010, he was transferred to another team and given an unenviable task: making a success out of ''Final Fantasy XIV''. At the time, ''FFXIV'' was a spectacular disaster, with the game being widely declared the absolute worst ''Final Fantasy'' game in the series and becoming a massive financial sink. Yoshida had been chosen as the new head leader of the development team for his experience, charisma, and passion for making players happy. Yoshida was not acquainted with any members of the ''FFXIV'' team at that time, and working with the game proved to be an arduous task. Under his leadership, however, Yoshida managed to make various additions and quality-of-life changes to FFXIV, gradually improving the game's reception.

Yoshida was initially assigned to aid in the development of ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games, but in 2010, he was transferred to another team and given an unenviable task: making a success out of ''Final Fantasy XIV''. At the time, FFXIV was a spectacular disaster, with the game being widely declared the absolute worst ''Final Fantasy'' game in the series and becoming a massive financial sink. Yoshida had been chosen as the new head leader of the development team for his experience, charisma, and passion for making players happy. Yoshida was not acquainted with any members of the FFXIV team at that time, and working with the game proved to be an arduous task. Under his leadership, however, Yoshida managed to make various additions and quality-of-life changes to FFXIV, gradually improving the game's reception.

It soon became apparent, however, that there was a limit to what Yoshida could do with FFXIV in the state that it was. As such, he made a daring proposition to the leaders of Square Enix: to completely scrap the game and rebuild it from the ground up. Nothing like this had ever been done in the history of the MMO genre, but with Square in increasingly dire straits, Yoshida was given the green light to proceed, continuing to maintain the game until its eventual closure while simultaneously developing the new version of FFXIV.

In what would be Square and Yoshida's make-or-break moment, ''Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn'' launched in 2014. To the surprise of the video game industry and players alike, [[WinBackTheCrowd the relaunched game was a massive critical and financial success]], recuperating the profits Square had lost on the original 1.0 version of the game and becoming a household name among [=MMORPGs=]. For many years after, the game would see continued success as Yoshida continued to head development, as well as finally achieving his dream of working with Creator/YasumiMatsuno with an ''VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance'' crossover questline in the FFXIV expansion ''Stormblood''.

Yoshida, also known affectionately as "Yoshi-P", joined the games industry in 1993 when he was hired by Creator/HudsonSoft, where he helped to work on ''VideoGame/TengaiMakyou'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' before leaving to work with smaller studios. He would be inspired by the works of Creator/YasumiMatsuno, a Squaresoft developer who created ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', and would work towards the goal of creating a game with his idol, eventually joining Square in 2004, by which time Matsuno had left to join Creator/Level5.

In what would be Square and Yoshida's make-or-break moment, ''Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn'' launched in 2014. To the surprise of the video game industry and players alike, the relaunched game was a massive critical and financial success, recuperating the profits Square had lost on the original 1.0 version of the game and becoming a household name among [=MMORPGs=]. For many years after, the game would see continued success as Yoshida continued to head development, as well as finally achieving his dream of working with Creator/YasumiMatsuno with an ''VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance'' crossover questline in the FFXIV expansion ''Stormblood''.

* LineToGod: One of the most notable traits of Yoshida is his transparency to players on ''FFXIV''. He often communicates about changes and upcoming events via blog posts and livestreams.

Yoshida is currently heading production of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''.

Yoshida, also known affectionately as "Yoshi-P", joined the games industry in 1983 when he was hired by Creator/HudsonSoft, where he helped to work on ''VideoGame/TengaiMakyou'' and ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}}'' before leaving to work with smaller studios. He would be inspired by the works of Creator/YasumiMatsuno, a Squaresoft developer who created ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', and would work towards the goal of creating a game with his idol, eventually joining Square in 2004, by which time Matsuno had left to join Creator/Level5.

What distinguishes Yoshida among his peers is how closely he works with the playerbase of FFXIV in development, maintaining a great deal of transparency through blog posts and a "Letter from the Producer" livestream series to keep players apprised of changes and additions coming to the game. He also enjoys playing [=MMORPGs=], himself, taking inspiration from western influences like ''VideoGame/{{Everquest}}'' and ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.

In what would be Square and Yoshida's make-or-break moment, ''Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn'' launched in 2014. To the surprise of the video game industry and players alike, the relaunched game was a massive critical and financial success, recuperating the profits Square had lost on the original 1.0 version of the game and becoming a household name among [=MMORPGs=]. For many years after, the game would see continued success as Yoshida continued to head development, as well as finally achieving his dream of working with Yasumi Matsuno with an ''VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance'' crossover questline in the FFXIV expansion ''Stormblood''.