It's Possible That Eidos Montreal Almost Made Final Fantasy XV

A recent video from YouTuber Super Bunnyhop, also known as games journalist George Weidman, suggests that Eidos Montreal was once working on what later became Final Fantasy XV.

Weidman tells us in the video that this report has anonymous sources, so it's unclear whether all of what's said here is valid. Nonetheless, it paints an interesting picture.

Following Eidos Montreal's launch of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which received critical acclaim, one of the game's producers thought up a new RPG concept. Yoichi Wada, who was Square Enix's president at the time, gave Eidos Montreal permission to tackle the next Final Fantasy game. It was being designed with the Western audience in mind, so it was codenamed Project W in pre-production. 

The game was to be a space opera and have a visual design similar to fractals. It told the story of the protagonist searching for his love interest, Nova, and entering a complicated love triangle because of it. 

In 2012, the concept was formally pitched to Final Fantasy producers and was promptly rejected. The game continued its pre-production under a new codename, Project Nova, and was slated to instead be a new IP. After failed pitches to several publishers, however, it never found the funding needed to survive. Project Nova was then cancelled.

Watch the video below to hear the story for yourself.

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Eidos Montreal is currently working on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. You can read more about what to expect from that title by heading here.

 

Our Take
Though his sources are unnamed, Weidman has previously put together credible reports about video games. This video should nonetheless be taken with a grain of salt, since little proof is given.