10 Video Game Developers Who HATE Their Own Creation

7. Naoki Yoshida - Final Fantasy XIV 1.0

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Square Enix

There's no getting around it: the original 1.0 release of MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV in 2010 was an absolute dumpster fire of wonky gameplay that proved to be blatantly unfinished.

It was bad enough that the original iteration of the game shut down barely two years after launching, despite a new director-producer, Naoki Yoshida, being brought aboard shortly after launch to try and whip it into workable shape.

Yoshida ultimately remained on to oversee development of FFXIV's replacement, A Realm Reborn, which launched in 2013 to strong acclaim and remains a much-loved MMO to this very day.

But in a 2019 interview, when asked whether 1.0 might ever return in a limited capacity for newer players to experience it, Yoshida simply replied by laughing and shouting "Nightmare!" He then followed up with a more eloquent response:

"We acknowledge that that request is there, but those are the people that do not know just how scary the original Final Fantasy XIV is."

While Yoshida wasn't himself responsible for FFXIV 1.0 being such a mess, he was nevertheless charged with spending years of his life fixing it, so his passionately volcanic response is certainly understandable.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.