Final Fantasy XVI developers were made to watch Game of Thrones

Final Fantasy XVI marks a bit of a departure from the series' previous entries in more ways than one. A more mature theme, for example, will feature in the upcoming title, with a lot more gore and adult content for players to witness.

In preparation for this, Naoki Yoshida confirmed that the core team of 30 developers were each required to get a box set of Game of Thrones and watch it in order to create a similar atmosphere in Final Fantasy XVI.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Yoshida said: "As I've grown older, I've found that I like my fantasy based more in reality. We wanted to create something that really resonated with a lot of people. And when we saw how Game of Thrones, and before that the Song of Ice and Fire series, has really resonated with players, we knew that this was something that we wanted to do as well. When we first started creating the game, we had our core team of about 30 members very early on buy the Blu-ray box set of Game of Thrones and required everyone to watch it because we wanted this type of feel."

In terms of gameplay, Final Fantasy XVI has also borrowed influence from the God of War games. It launches on the 22nd of June for the PS5.