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[Zhronne]

As if it weren't the same people making the new game...

Technically it's not the same people D:
As much as many (all?) of the old/original FFXI are now employed into FFXIV.
Matsui himself was into FFXI, then moved into FFXIV and only recently came back into FFXI after Tanaka's departure.
But things in these games are more often than not decided by a small bunch of people, usually one and his stricter cooperators, who decide the "direction" the game goes and organize the work of all the other employee who just do what they're told.

In this sense, FFXIV is the game of Yoshi-P, whereas FFXI atm is Matsui's game. (or whomever pulls the strings behind him, if he's not the one)