BODY: When a 24-player raid gets its own anime royalty, you know Square Enix means business. At the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2026 keynote in Berlin on July 25, the studio confirmed that legendary creator Mahiro Maeda is joining "Ghost of Desire," the Neon Genesis Evangelion collaboration alliance raid coming to the upcoming expansion Silver Wanderer.
For Evangelion faithful, Maeda's name carries enormous weight. He's a longtime Studio Khara collaborator who worked closely with franchise creator Hideaki Anno, contributing design and directorial muscle across the original series and the Rebuild of Evangelion film tetralogy. His involvement signals that this isn't a bolt-on skin pack — it's a genuine creative handshake between two of Japan's most obsessively detailed fandoms.
Alliance raids in FFXIV pit three eight-player parties against a single sprawling gauntlet, and they've become the game's stage for high-profile crossovers. The NieR: Automata "YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse" series set the template; more recently the expansion also announced a Final Fantasy VII Remake raid, "Beyond the Lifestream." An Evangelion entry slots neatly into that lineage — angels, Eva units, and existential dread are practically born to be boss mechanics.
Square Enix held back specifics on release timing, mechanics, and rewards, promising more at the Fan Festival's second day and in future Live Letter broadcasts. But the headline was the collaboration's pedigree, and on that front, "Ghost of Desire" is stacked.
The insider take
From Tokyo, the Maeda signing reads as Square Enix understanding exactly what Japanese otaku scrutinize. Evangelion collabs are a dime a dozen here — you'll find Eva pachinko, Eva ramen, Eva bullet trains. What separates a respected tie-in from a cash grab is whether Khara's actual creatives touch it. Pulling in Maeda, rather than licensing stock Eva art, is the move that earns credibility with the hardcore crowd, and it mirrors how FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida has historically courted authentic collaborators over easy branding.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).