Yoshi-P has said many things over the past couple of years about FFXVI. He has said he would take the game on if asked and expressed the desire to see FFXVI have a medieval fantasy type setting. It's possible that his team is now working on FFXVI as a next gen game. That artwork shows the type of airship that would feature in the game he has described.

But it could be an MMO although I think it's unlikely unless the game is still a long way off since FFXIV is still going strong and getting a new expansion this year, even FFXI is still going with talks of something special for the 20th anniversary in 2022. So although a third FF MMO is likely at some point, this mystery project might not be it.

lol, absolutely not. No one can deny his talents, especially as a character designer but all of his recent projects have been convoluted mess from a story perspective & his gameplay ideas haven't really evolved with the times. 

Personally I would love to see Hiroyuki Ito direct another game, without stakeholders trying to force JRPG tropes into his narrative. But ultimately the idea that Square has to cling to one of these guys is probably part of the problem. 

Thanks for all of this info.  I thought they were going to cancel XI, but if it is still going, then that gives me hope that they won't bother with another MMO for a while.  Two should already be plenty.

I would really, really love another medieval fantasy type of Final Fantasy like 1, 4, 9 or Tactics.  These tend to splash in a little sci-fi, but still keep it mostly medieval.  I liked the departure of 6 & 7 into a more sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, but by the time it got to 8, I felt that the sci-fi heavy side had gotten old, and since then Final Fantasy has been at least as much sci-fi as it has been fantasy.  Ironically, medieval fantasy would be a change of pace at this point.

I'm almost sure I recently read a statement from SE that there is not gonna be a new MMO anytime soon since FF14 is doing well. Can't find it, though.

Nomura has always co-directed games for the longest time. he hasnt be the only director on a game since KH2 in 2005. 

He was always part of the team for ff7r. In fact it only exists because he, Kitase and Nojima decided to go for it. 

Nomura just didn't think he was going to be director because Kitase seemed like he was taking that role.  Nomura was most likely expecting the creative producer position,  one he assumes quite regularly on games. 

But it certainly wasnt a limited input to director role.  He was one of the main members of the team from the initial start. 

I'm sure he does have a ton of responsibilities like it sounds you do (keep up the good work), but i don't see this as him necessarily being given too much work. He could of had little to no involvement if he wanted,  but he wanted to be part of the core team.