During a panel at Game Developers Conference 2017 in San Francisco, that DualShockers attended, Final Fantasy XV Director Hajime Tabata talked about the future of the Final Fantasy series.

"In the end, Final Fantasy XV was completed, and it's finally in everybody's hands. Within a month of release, we sold six million copies. As I said at the beginning, if we failed this time, there wouldn't be a next time, which means that probably this isn't our final Final Fantasy. The series will probably live on."

While this won't surprise many, every time a new Final Fantasy game is released, there are some who say that the series is dead. Actually, they weren't so far from the truth this time around: Tabata-san explained that Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi told him that his mission was to make Final Fantasy a challenger again. With that, he meant that he should approach the project believing that it was the last chance, and that if the game didn't prove a success, there wouldn't be a next time.

Shortly after Tabata-san was named Director of the game, he talked with the head of sales at Square Enix, and learned that sales forecasts for the game were quite low, under five millions worldwide. Everyone told him thatmoving away from turn-based combat was deemed unwise, and that the Final Fantasy brand was "diminished" and "in danger."

That's why Tabata-san set a sales goal a million units higher than the forecast, at six millions. He thought that setting a high goal would bring the team together, forcing them to push through whatever obstacle was placed in their way.

Tabata-san also mentioned that his takeaway from the experience on Final Fantasy XV is that the greatest goals can only achieved by taking big risks. He concluded by mentioning that the team will continue taking on challenges for Final Fantasy XV, as well as other new challenges.

[On-location reporting: Azario Lopez]