Final Fantasy 14's next expansion will end its 10-year-story and start a whole new one

The next Final Fantasy 14 expansion Endwalker is due this fall, but this one's going to hit a little different. During the FF14 announcement showcase, game director Naoki Yoshida and translation director Michael Christopher Koji Fox made it clear that Endwalker represents a major milestone for the long-running story of Final Fantasy 14, wrapping up the current arc spanning from A Realm Reborn (2013) through Shadowbringers and its post-launch patches (present). 

Endwalker itself will contain the complete expansion arc, eschewing the usual story finale doled out in post-launch patches to wrap things up immediately. More importantly, Endwalker will wrap the last 10 years of Final Fantasy 14's story up completely. When I asked our resident MMO expert if WoW had ever done something so bold he told me, "No, god no." 

"Beginning in patch 6.1, this will mark the beginning of an entirely new adventure separate from the Zodiark-Hydaelyn saga," said Yoshida via Fox. 

With the confirmation of the end of the Zodiark-Hydaelyn arc, fans in chat began to speculate that Yoshida would soon announce his departure from the Final Fantasy 14 team, possibly to focus on Final Fantasy 16 where he's serving as a producer. 

No worries there. Yoshida affirmed his priorities. 

"But I want to assure everyone I'm not going anywhere, I'm not leaving the project. I look at Final Fantasy 14 as my life work, or at least until the president tells me to stop," said Yoshida via Fox. "I personally feel that I'm probably going to end up being with Final Fantasy 14 my whole life."

Now that's dedication. Looking forward to it.