Square Enix has announced its plans for an overhaul of troubled MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, revealing that the remade version of the game will be made available in the fourth quarter of 2012.
In a statement, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada explained that the development team has been working to fix the game to a high standard after a rocky launch ten months ago.
As part of the announcement, Wada said that the unbilled period for the game will now come to a close, and a subscription-based system will be put in place sometime between late November and early December 2011.
The remade version of the game, dubbed 'Version 2.0', is due to be integrated into the game between October and December 2012. The full client will then go on sale at the start of 2013 for both PC and PlayStation 3.
The PS3 version of the game was delayed back when the game launched for PC, as Square Enix said that it was looking to improve stability, performance and functionality before the launch.
Naoki Yoshida, producer on the game, listed all the changes that the game will undergo for the rerelease. The game's current maps will be redesigned to fix the repetitive feel, while a whole new graphics engine will be put in place.
A new server system will also be integrated to fix speed and performance problems, while the user interface will receive a full overhaul.
Finally, the in-game community content will see more regular expansions, while overall the game will see numerous bug fixes and alterations.
"I promise that we will continue to give all Final Fantasy XIV players our full attention as we do everything in our power to provide a high-quality service," he said, "and as such, would like ask for your continued encouragement and support."
"As always, everything we do will be for our players and customers," he concluded.
Too little, too late. SWTOR and WoW will be the only game in town for sub-based MMOs. Pity as FF always had the back lore and everything to make a really killer game.
I find it odd that they're going to start charging for a subscription RIGHT when they've got the most competition: all the big holiday hits will becoming out Nov/Dec. Then they keep it in place for a year, then go BACK to free trial mode for a few months.
Frankly, it seems they should just stop shooting themselves in the foot and leave it free trial until 2.0.
Well, according to Gamasutra's reporting (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31364/Square_Enix_Ships_630000_FFXIV_ Copies_W orking_On_Regaining_Trust.php) FFXIV's regional distribution is "190,000 shipped in Japan, 210,000 in North America, and 230,000 in Europe."
It seems unwise for Square Enix to charge simply because of their Japanese audience, considering they have greater uptake outside of Japan. Its possible the largest portion of their Japanese audience is waiting for the console version of the game. The Japanese audience has also been one of the most outspokenly hostile, due in part to accusations of a "Chinese-ified" game (both with misused Chinese characters for Japanese terms (the most well known being Chocobo translated with the characters for horse and bird), typical Chinese misspellings of Japanese words not unlike the "Engrish" we experience (particularly with the ho/bo/po kanas), and Chinese-influenced game design choices like the hidden "gathering fatigue").
I suppose, on the other hand, it doesn't really matter if a lot of their audience stops playing between now and what basically amounts to a re-launch of the game with the 2.0 release. I suppose they spent the last year trying to patch in a few fixes but realized that a patchable fixes weren't enough; they went back to the drawing board to come up with a new graphics engine, a new server back-end, a new UI core... basically a whole new game. In terms of "not being able to operate it for free" they could well have just taken down the current game and said "come back when 2.0 is out." So giving players the option to pay for it and to leave it up does, from that perspective, make sense.
They should not do F2P but they should do a reduced rate of $9.99 a month to get more FF fans to sign up. Sony could do that along with micro-transactions to keep it all going. Selling items has been pretty successful for other games. It might work for FF-online too.
Graphically overhaul FF11. Improve parts to allow for soloing. Improve the auction house and allow the players to hold far more items. Then sell it at $20 with a $10 monthly fee. First month free. That is the only way Square will see real profit. Abandon FF14. Plan for failure as much as success.
FFXIV already has their own billing system to accommodate non-PS3 players, so I doubt this concerns PSN at all.
@Jonathan Murphy
FFXI is already pushing 10 years and will likely just receive small DLCs but nothing major. Since Sony stopped producing PS2s with HDDs, their audience has gradually been shrinking. They've already gone through a major server consolidation and will likely see another one in the next few months.
@Simon Ludgate
Majority of players still playing FFXIV are, in fact, JP players. I think we can throw the misconception that the Japanese are not interested in PC gaming out the window. PC gaming has grown wildly popular in the past 5 years now with many of them importing Western games (there's even a large unofficial contingent of WoW players in Japan and many of them expressing interest in the upcoming Diablo III) Anyway, I think the EU players have officially quit playing this game, so you're likely to find empty servers in that time zone.
Frankly, it seems they should just stop shooting themselves in the foot and leave it free trial until 2.0.
Also: they probably care more about their Japanese audience, who won't touch SWTOR etc.
orking_On_Regaining_Trust.php) FFXIV's regional distribution is "190,000 shipped in Japan, 210,000 in North America, and 230,000 in Europe."
It seems unwise for Square Enix to charge simply because of their Japanese audience, considering they have greater uptake outside of Japan. Its possible the largest portion of their Japanese audience is waiting for the console version of the game. The Japanese audience has also been one of the most outspokenly hostile, due in part to accusations of a "Chinese-ified" game (both with misused Chinese characters for Japanese terms (the most well known being Chocobo translated with the characters for horse and bird), typical Chinese misspellings of Japanese words not unlike the "Engrish" we experience (particularly with the ho/bo/po kanas), and Chinese-influenced game design choices like the hidden "gathering fatigue").
I suppose, on the other hand, it doesn't really matter if a lot of their audience stops playing between now and what basically amounts to a re-launch of the game with the 2.0 release. I suppose they spent the last year trying to patch in a few fixes but realized that a patchable fixes weren't enough; they went back to the drawing board to come up with a new graphics engine, a new server back-end, a new UI core... basically a whole new game. In terms of "not being able to operate it for free" they could well have just taken down the current game and said "come back when 2.0 is out." So giving players the option to pay for it and to leave it up does, from that perspective, make sense.
FFXIV already has their own billing system to accommodate non-PS3 players, so I doubt this concerns PSN at all.
@Jonathan Murphy
FFXI is already pushing 10 years and will likely just receive small DLCs but nothing major. Since Sony stopped producing PS2s with HDDs, their audience has gradually been shrinking. They've already gone through a major server consolidation and will likely see another one in the next few months.
@Simon Ludgate
Majority of players still playing FFXIV are, in fact, JP players. I think we can throw the misconception that the Japanese are not interested in PC gaming out the window. PC gaming has grown wildly popular in the past 5 years now with many of them importing Western games (there's even a large unofficial contingent of WoW players in Japan and many of them expressing interest in the upcoming Diablo III) Anyway, I think the EU players have officially quit playing this game, so you're likely to find empty servers in that time zone.