Ben Starr Worked on Final Fantasy XVI for 4 Years

Square Enix released an official interview with Ben Starr going over his role as Clive Rosfield and experience working on Final Fantasy XVI. In it, he brought up how he worked on the game for four years and what that process was like. He also brought up what it was like meeting Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Tifa voice actress Britt Baron after having shown himself dressed up as the character online.

After bringing up how he spent four years working on Final Fantasy XVI, Starr brought up how initially it was about working on the game. However, after that he discussed how his role led to him becoming something of an ambassador for the series. 

Here’s the full statement from the Square Enix interview with Ben Starr about Final Fantasy XVI:

“There was the secret period of me working on it with my friends. Well, colleagues who then became really close friends.

And then I had the year that it came out.

And now it’s kind of basking in the glow, the glory of having survived that year, because it was just so intense. I threw myself into it, maybe unhealthily so. But I did that because I really loved it. I saw that this is an amazing opportunity, and they don’t really come around very often.

I’m really glad I survived at the other end, and this sounds silly, but it was a lot. It was a lot of responsibility to become a kind of figurehead for a game and then by proxy a franchise as well. Because I really loved talking not just about Final Fantasy XVI, but Final Fantasy as a whole – and celebrating it.

I was turning up to award ceremonies in Final Fantasy VIII T-Shirts. I turned up to the Game Awards with my favorite Final Fantasy party on it. I wanted to at all points feel like I could be a vector for this franchise, for people to experience this franchise and almost give them permission to talk about the things they love.

I wanted to be very front-faced in the video game community and say: ‘Final Fantasy is cool, let’s talk about it.’

Yes, my favorite is Final Fantasy VIII, but I want people to feel like they can share their love of Terra or Vivi, or Rydia or… whoever you love, you should be able to love them in the way that you love them.

If I can be the person who’s opening the door for someone to talk about it, then let’s go!

But that’s a lot of pressure to take on and I felt like I put that on myself. But now, a bit like Thanos at the end of Infinity War, I can relax a little bit and it’s all been worth it (laughs).”

As for his encounter with Britt Baron after dressing as Tifa from Final Fantasy VII, Ben Starr joked about meeting her after. He said after sharing the photo of himself cosplaying, “I actually messaged Britt a couple of days afterwards apologizing!” He also raved about some of the cast members from Rebirth, as he said, “So Britt’s amazing, and so is Brianna White (Aerith) and Suzie Yeung (Yuffie) – I got to spend time with them. And John Bentley (Barret) is one of the most outgoing, charismatic individuals I’ve ever met in my life!”

Following his role as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI, Ben Starr appeared in other video games. Most recently, he was revealed as the voice actor for Prometheus in Hades 2. When Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 releases in 2025, we’ll hear him as Verso. He’s also shared a number of joke videos, memes, and photos on social media.

Final Fantasy XVI is available for the PS5 and PC.