The name of Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion has officially been revealed. Announced during the Final Fantasy XIV North American Fan Festival’s opening showcase, the next chapter in the game’s Godless Realms Saga is titled Evercold, and will follow the player’s Warrior of Light as they attempt to stop the Fourth Reflection from freezing over. However, according to game director Naoki Yoshida, the upcoming expansion was very nearly named something else.
In a press conference held by Yoshida following the showcase, the director explained that Evercold’s original name was actually rejected by Square Enix–and it’s not the first time that’s happened, either.
“Before we settled on [Evercold], there was another name candidate that we had. But I mean, that’s happened in the past as well,” Yoshida explained. “For example, when we were trying to come up with a name for what became Stormblood, one of the names that came was Rebellion. Unfortunately that was rejected for various reasons, including legal reasons, so we couldn’t choose that one. For Shadowbringers, we thought Darkbringers, but that was rejected as well. For Endwalker, the candidate was World’s End, but that was not possible either.”
In all of these cases, I’d argue the better title was ultimately chosen. Following their tremendous success, it’s frankly hard to imagine any of these expansions going by anything other than their now-iconic titles. However, Yoshida might have been cooking with what was originally proposed for Evercold.
“For this expansion, I really wanted to go with Absolute Zero. I was thinking about what the logo would look like and… That was rejected as well,” Yoshida said.
Though Yoshida didn’t get Absolute Zero, the expansion’s icy premise remains firmly intact. And for all of us Heavensward sickos, that’s definitely exciting enough in itself.
During the conference, Yoshida also opened up about the potential for a single-player Final Fantasy XIV game–one similar to the series’ more traditional entries. The director also spoke at length about all of the major changes coming to Final Fantasy XIV over the next year, with particular emphasis on its new Evolved battle mode, same-region player matching, and the exciting-yet-strangely-executed Switch 2 port coming later this year.