Square Enix will keep adding jobs to Final Fantasy 14 for as long as it exists

When Final Fantasy 14’s second expansion pack, Stormblood, launches on June 20, the game will see the addition of two new jobs: the red mage and the samurai. This will bring the total number of jobs in the massively multiplayer game up to a whopping 15. But according to developer Square Enix, that number is just going to keep going up.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get to the point where we want to stop adding jobs,” director Naoki Yoshida told Polygon. “For future expansions, adding jobs is really important. We couldn’t imagine not having new jobs. It’s part of the Final Fantasy series, and everybody loves jobs.”

Jobs in Final Fantasy 14 operate similar to classes in other role-playing games, determining the skills you will use. Fifteen is already a huge number of classes compared to many other examples in the genre, and many MMO developers choose not to add new classes with new expansions to avoid overcomplicating the game.

World of Warcraft, for example, has been around almost a decade longer than Final Fantasy 14 and has a mere 12 classes. Three of its six expansions have not added new classes. EverQuest has been around a whopping 18 years and has only made it to 16 classes. Its most recent class addition, the berserker, was added to the game way back in 2004.

Perhaps a better point of comparison is the Final Fantasy franchise’s other major MMO, Final Fantasy 11. That game, which received its reportedly final expansion last year, has grown to a respectable stable of 22 jobs. Judging by Yoshida’s comments, he fully expects Final Fantasy 14 to get to that point as well.

“I believe that leveling in and of itself can be enjoyed as content,” he said. “Choosing which jobs to add will get harder and harder as we progress, but we still want to add them.”

During this conversation we also asked about Yoshida’s future with Final Fantasy 14. He’s been heading up the FF14 team since 2010, just months after the disastrous initial launch of the game. Since then, he’s overseen a complete rebuilding and relaunch as well as two full expansions, helping to turn one of Square Enix’s greatest failures into a surprise success.

Though it’s been a busy seven years, Yoshida says he is sticking with Final Fantasy 14 for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t get the urge to move on to a new game at all,” Yoshida said. “Any new ideas that come up, I feel like I could go ahead and actualize them within Final Fantasy 14. Of course, if Square Enix requests for me to create a new and different game, I would have to consider what is being requested of me. But to be quite honest, I don’t think I get that itch to move on.”

Yoshida went on to say that if he was ever requested to change to a different project by his higher-ups, he would look for a way to work on the new project while making sure he keeps Final Fantasy 14 on track as well.

“Of course, I do physically age,” Yoshida added, laughing. “I do feel like it’s a little strenuous on my physical self. I wish somebody could help me with a producer role.”

Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood launches on June 20 for Windows PC, Mac and PlayStation 4. You can read our full in-depth pre-review coverage of the expansion or check out some early footage from it in the video below.