Square Enix has offered fresh insight into why Final Fantasy 10 shifted from the series' earlier science-fiction leanings towards high fantasy. Producer Yoshinori Kitase revealed that the change of direction followed the development team learning that The Lord of the Rings was being adapted into a film trilogy, prompting them to bet that fantasy was poised to become "the next big global trend" in popular entertainment.

The comments emerged as part of new interview material released to mark Final Fantasy 10's 25th anniversary, in which senior creative staff reflected on how the game's design evolved during production between 1999 and 2001. The wager proved well-timed commercially: Final Fantasy 10 launched in 2001, just months before The Fellowship of the Ring reached cinemas, allowing it to benefit from the surge of mainstream interest in fantasy that the films subsequently generated.