Quote Originally Posted by EgilTheStressedMage View Post
He’ll delete the game before he hands it over to someone else. The man wants total control and that’s exactly what he’s getting. He does not care about us anymore.
On the contrary, there's older interviews stating that he wanted to hand it over to somebody else but couldn't find anyone able to take over. I'd wager he's there by contract not because he necessarily wants to be there but because the cult that has built up around him allows him to show up during a Live Letter to cheers from the crowd whilst being completely caught off-guard whenever a deep question makes it past the carefully curated Q&A sessions.

He's probably getting funding for FFXVI on the condition that he keeps his name tied to FFXIV but it's clear that the former has not only taken talent away from the latter but seems to be much more of a passion project than FFXIV.

Endwalker unceremoniously did away with large swathes of the ongoing story, after all and the guy doesn't seem to grasp that not everybody shares the same interests and personal tastes be it in regards to the story or in regards to actual content.