Final Fantasy 14 director has a pretty simple explanation for why the Monster Hunter Wilds collab will feature Omega – 'In the Monster Hunter team, there are many Warriors of Light'

• Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida says Omega will appear in the Monster Hunter Wilds crossover because the game's director wanted it to happen
• Yoshida also says there are many Final Fantasy 14 players on the Monster Hunter team
• The upcoming Omega Planetes boss was designed for both casual players and hardcore players

According to Final Fantasy 14's director, Naoki Yoshida, Monster Hunter Wilds' upcoming collaboration with the MMO will feature Omega because the Monster Hunter team wanted it to happen.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Gamescom 2025, Yoshida explained in pretty simple terms why the crossover will feature the automaton as opposed to a fantasy creature like Final Fantasy 14's Shinryu or Nidhogg.

It turns out, Monster Hunter Wilds' director Yuya Tokuda and executive director Kaname Fujioka wanted Omega to make an appearance because they wanted to explore a new worldview in the game.

"The first and foremost, the people who said that they really want Omega to make an appearance was the Monster Hunter team," Yoshida said.

"So, with regards to the reason why that is, it just so happens that last year at Gamescom, I went out drinking with Mr. Tokuda, who's the director of Monster Hunter Wilds, and also Mr. Fujioka, who's the executive director for the game platform. They told me that in they wanted to achieve a sort of world view which behind it there lies an unknown civilization and it's a little bit different to Monster Hunter, what you could see in Monster Hunter before, and for that reason they wanted Omega to make an appearance because it would expand on that world view which they have in the game and that battle experience."

Yoshida added, "And also at the same time in the Monster Hunter team, there are many Warriors of Light as well, similar to all of the players, and they remember the experiences they had battling Omega in Final Fantasy."

If you're familiar with Final Fantasy 14's Omega raid series, you'll know that the backstory of Omega and its questline is considered be quite sad. For this reason, some changes have been made for when the automaton makes an appearance in Monster Hunter Wilds, although some mechanics will remain familiar.

"They wanted to kind of replicate that sort of experience in the game, so of course, there are certain mechanics, for example, and so they wanted to see how they could create that sort of experience within the game," Yoshida explained.

"As Final Fantasy 14 players, when we think about what happened with the battle with Omega, we think about the Warrior of Light had the battle with Omega, and then we remember that there was that small Omega that we have now, which has, we could think of it that it has a heart and it travels around with Alpha the Chocobo, and so from the Final Fantasy 14 player's perspective, if they were to battle Omega, they might not be able to attack Omega because they they would feel bad and they would feel sorry for attacking the Omega that they know.

"And it's for this reason why we decided that in the content that will be implemented in Monster Hunter Wilds, it would be the same body of Omega, but inside it would be a different AI as it were, and that's the reason why the Omega monster in Monster Hunter Wilds is called Omega Planetes, and in terms of the story, in the collaboration content on Monster Hunter Wilds side, the Alpha and Omega will make an appearance, and they will join the hunter as they go up against Omega Planetes, and you can look forward to the reason why that happens in the story."

In addition, Yoshida said that the Final Fantasy 14 development team has been in charge of supervising the story and thinks it will be an enjoyable experience for both communities.

The director also confirmed that when it comes down to battle mechanics, the fight against Omega Planetes was designed for both casual players and hardcore players in mind.

The collaboration was announced as part of Gamescom 2025 Opening Night Live. More details, including a release date for the crossover, is expected to be announced at a later date along with information about the Free Title Update 3.

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