Final Fantasy 14's Naoki Yoshida says rumors of him directing Final Fantasy 16 are fake

Final Fantasy 16 will not be directed by Naoki Yoshida despite rumors to the contrary.

Recent rumors pegged Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida for Final Fantasy 16, but the rumors are not true, according to Yoshida.

Speaking during an ongoing Final Fantasy 14 stream, Yoshida was asked by a fan if the rumors of him helming the next entry in the series were true.

"Looks like some kind of big fake news came out," Yoshida wrote in response to the question in chat (thanks, RPG Site). "I'll say it clearly - it's annoying.

"I'm still going to continue being in charge of Final Fantasy 14 for more years to come as long as I don't die from sickness or accident. So please ignore any non-official announcements. It's so bothersome."

A job posting back in 2019 indicated Square Enix and Yoshida's Third Development Division were working on a "new core project following Final Fantasy 14," and that the studio had "begun the challenge for the next generation."

The listing noted the initial development was completed and it was heading into full-scale development. This seemed to indicate Yoshida's studio is working on a newer title for next-gen with work continuing on FF14.

Rumors of Final Fantasy 16 being in development go as far back as 2017.  With the final bit of Final Fantasy 15 content released in February of last year, the team at Square could have already moved on to the next installment in the franchise. With next-gen coming up this holiday, it wouldn't' be unheard of for Square to make an announcement of the game being in development, but that's just speculation as the game may be a long way off.