Final Fantasy Producer Says Star Wars Was a Major Inspiration for Characters and Mechanics

In a recent interview with IGN at the Lucca Comics & Games Festival 2026, longtime Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed that Star Wars had a significant influence on the RPG franchise. When asked about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being heavily inspired by Final Fantasy, Kitase expressed his happiness at seeing a game inspired by Square's RPG series achieve such success. He also admitted that he himself draws inspiration from other entertainment giants, particularly Star Wars.

"To be honest, I know the game," Kitase said of Expedition 33. "I spoke with the creators and I'm actually very happy about the fact that they have been so inspired by Final Fantasy and they created a new game from that. And also, I was inspired by movies and in particular by Star Wars when I was young. I took inspiration from many things I was interested in when I was younger, and I used that inspiration to create my games. I think it's beautiful that there's this kind of cycle where we inspire each other and we take things from each other's games. I think it's something beautiful, and it should be like that."

Kitase noted that he has always been careful not to directly copy Star Wars, fearing it would be too obvious and seem more like a copy than an homage. However, he did point out a few elements in his own work that stem from his love of the sci-fi series. He mentioned that Final Fantasy 7 characters Wedge and Biggs are the most overt inspirations, as they are named after characters from Star Wars' rebellion. On a more subtle note, he also revealed that Blitzball from Final Fantasy 10 was inspired by Podracing from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

"One more that came to my mind is from Final Fantasy X, where I had to create [Blitzball] for the game inside the fantasy setting. And I used an idea from Star Wars Episode 1 where there's this [pod] race and the fact of using sport inside a fantasy context, I took this idea directly from Star Wars."

The highly-anticipated conclusion to the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, is set to release on April 8, 2027.