Final Fantasy 14 now most profitable game in the series
Reaping the rewards.
Final Fantasy 14 is now the most profitable game in Square Enix's RPG series.
Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy 14 director, revealed at a recent Endwalker expansion preview event that the MMO has now surpassed 24 million players, as reported by IGN.
This comes 11 years after the game was originally released and critically panned in its initial state. In a chart shared with the press, the game had 4 million registered users in 2015, then hit 10 million at the release of third expansion Stormblood in 2017. Since then, the numbers have doubled.
"You all know just how hard things were for us with the original Final Fantasy 14," Yoshida said in reference to the game's launch. "Since then, we were able to transform the title into one that provides a major contribution to our company's profits."
He continued: "It's perhaps unbecoming of me to say but in terms of our business, we've been able to achieve great success. Moving forward, we're going to spare no expense with our investments to ensure that this game continues to be one which our players can enjoy."
Yoshida also reflected on his relationship with the community in a new PlayStation Blog. "From our perspective in the [FF14] team, we don't think of the players as just players," he said, "we really look to them as our friends and part of our family, we're in this game together.
"I think if there's one thing that really sets Final Fantasy 14 apart from other titles in the genre, it's that we really aim for FF14 to be a gold-standard, story-driven MMO," said Yoshida. "I think that's an important point of differentiation compared to other MMO titles."
Final Fantasy 14 has certainly gone from strength to strength and, as its well known free trial meme shows, it has certainly hit the mainstream this past year. That's only been aided by recent fan disappointment in key rival World of Warcraft.
Now, with the release of Endwalker on 23rd November, the game is hitting new heights for the series.
Endwalker will bring a wealth of new content, including the Sage and Reaper jobs, an increased level cap, new areas and dungeons, and the conclusion of a major storyline. Yet the game is far from over, with Yoshida mentioning during the preview presentation the development team is already considering the next ten years of content.