So FF14: A Realm Reborn is in alpha testing right now, and assuming Yoshida is telling the truth, it could be that his two years of nearly thankless effort may have been worth it. "We're seeing it work out better than I imagined," he said.
"What's making me the happiest is that a lot of the tester feedback we're getting is along the lines of 'I really didn't expect this from an alpha test' and 'Why don't you just make this a beta?' and so on. This is a title that's got a negative image right at the starting line, so we tried to show off exactly how much of it is complete; we placed the quality bar really high for an alpha."
A Realm Reborn is due out next summer worldwide, and if it's a success, then Naoki Yoshida will have engineered one of the most astonishing turnarounds in video-game history. "This may make me a failure as a businessman," he admitted, "
but to be honest, sales are secondary to me. My drive here is to regain the trust gamers had for us. I have confidence [we'll succeed], or else I wouldn't have taken on this project in the first place."