Final Fantasy series producer Yoshinori Kitase has explained the origins of Materia in Final Fantasy 7, saying the name came from series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.
In a YouTube video (spotted by Twitter user Genki and further translated by GamesRadar+) featuring a conversation between Kitase and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, Kitase recalls that the Materia system was originally going to be called the "Sphere System." He explains, "At that time, the planner… Materia is a spherical object so the setting was named the Sphere System." He says that it was Sakaguchi who made the decision to change this.
