Square Enix on the origin of the Final Fantasy name

Wondering how Final Fantasy got its name? Fortunately for you, Square Enix Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu recently went through a quick rundown of how the title came to be. Interestingly, Kawazu mentioned that “Fighting Fantasy” was one possibility that could have been used, but Square Enix decided against it because Steve Jackson was already using the name.

“It was something that was decided a long time ago, so my memory might be a bit faulty, but I think one of the things we had decided up front was that we wanted a title that could be abbreviated as FF. That abbreviation has special meaning. So we came up with many different titles, and Final Fantasy was one of them. From there, I think we were quick to make the call. There were some concerns about calling something ‘final’ from the get-go, but in the end we all warmed up to it. On a side note, one other option we liked was Fighting Fantasy, but it was the name of a game-book series by legendary game designer Steve Jackson, so we canned the idea. I wonder what would have happened if we didn’t realize this and went with the Fighting Fantasy option.”