Square Enix’s upcoming action role-playing game, Final Fantasy XV is aiming to revitalize console gaming in Japan, according to co-director Hajime Tabata.

Speaking with Kotaku, Tabata says that he wants to create games that he has enjoyed playing all his life, the kind of games that you can sit in your living room in front of the television.

“There’s probably a cultural explanation for why the Japanese market is shifting toward handheld or smartphone devices.

It’s pretty unique to Japan, where everyone is transporting—they have long train rides and bus rides to work, they have time to play handheld devices, or they’re spending more time in their own rooms vs. spending more time in the living room.

There’s this kind of trend to being more accessible. But since I was very young, I’ve played games for long hours, I spent long amounts of time in front of the TV, delving into the games.

So I enjoy those types of games, and I naturally want to create those types of games for the current generation and the next generations to come.”

FFXV was started production shortly before its announcement (under the title Final Fantasy Versus XIII) in May 2006. In June 2013, it was renamed and switched from PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. So he says the stakes are high and the success of FFXV is really important.

“So in terms of whether console games will be received moving forward, it’s not to say that I don’t have any concerns at all, but I believe that it’ll really depend on how Final Fantasy XV does.

Because I really want more people to enjoy games in the living room, on a big screen. If Final Fantasy XV doesn’t do well, perhaps there’s not much of a future for console games. It kind of really depends on how that goes.”

Final Fantasy XV will release sometime in 2015/2016 for Xbox One and PS4.

Source: Kotaku.