Octopath Traveler has certainly shown that people love a good throwback to the good old days of traditional RPGs. Although it only released a couple months ago, stores have actually had trouble keeping the game in stock due to initial high demand. It looks like those early sales could make it a talking point for a potential sequel in the future.
In a recent interview by Famitsu, head of Square Enix’s 11th Business Division Tomoya Asano mentions the possibility of a sequel to Octopath Traveler or even another installment in the Bravely Default series. Asano mentioned that to make another game with the same volume of Octopath Traveler would likely take three to four years, though the possibility is on the table. Regardless, he hopes that his team could possibly make a different title altogether.
“Our team has also become a division and we’ve obtained more staff members,” Asano said in regards to the growth of the 11th Business Division. “I think we want to release some sort of game that can be enjoyed by everyone every year from here on.”
Even though fans of the game were hoping for DLC in the future for Octopath Traveler, Asano mentioned that they created the game with the intention of it being a complete product, making DLC highly unlikely. While a sequel to the game is anything but confirmed, 11th Business Division has already started talking about what a sequel should be like if it were to come about.
There seems to be another hint that we could see a sequel in the Bravely Default series over Octopath Traveler. Character designer Naoki Ikushima released two pieces of congratulatory artwork (both seen above) for reaching a million units sold that hints toward the possible connection between Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default. The second piece conveys that the characters' silhouettes cast a shadow strangely resembling the Bravely Default logo. However, there is no proof whether this is just a neat nod to a past game produced by Asano or whether it is a hint toward something more.
"I asked Ikushima to draw that," Asano mentioned. "It doesn't mean we can release any new information for Bravely though... However, the one thing I want to convey is that the Bravely series is not a title of the past to us and to our company."
Both Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default have proven that gamers still love a classic RPG. With the success of both games, it seems likely that we will see even more titles from Square Enix's 11th Business Division in the near future. While a true sequel to Octopath Traveler may be quite a ways off, it seems that Asano and his team have already started talking about the possibility of the franchise's future. At the very least, it is nice to see that Square Enix has no plans to drop either of these series any time soon
Octopath Traveler is currently available for the Nintendo Switch.