Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward releasing June 23rd

[Raven]

Final Fantasy 14's first true expansion will be releasing June 23rd. The expansion's theme revolves heavily around flying and will be a major factor in every content patch until the next expansion. The expansion will feature flying mounts, a large new area to quest and explore, and a new playable race. There will also be three new jobs. The Dark Knight for tanking, the Astrologian for healing, and the Machinist for damage dealing. Many things about the game will be refined and there are tons of new additions outside of the major features. It was also said that the Dark Knight was almost beaten by the Samurai for the tanking role but the developers just simply felt the Dark Knight was a better fit. They have said the Samurai is NOT ruled out for future content.

http://www.dualshockers.com/2015/03/07/final-fantasy-xiv-heavensward-expansion-gets-a-release-date-for-ps4-ps3-and-pc-and-mac/

http://www.dualshockers.com/2015/03/07/final-fantasy-xivs-heavensward-expansion-check-out-the-majestic-new-level-60-gear-and-new-beautiful-artwork/

[Cute Pikachu]

Still wondering why SE made their main rpgs mmos during the last couple of years XD

[BasilZero]

Still wondering why SE made their main rpgs mmos during the last couple of years XD

They wanted to get a share of the market plus they had the assets/IPs that could take advantage of the MMORPG genre.


Personally I hate it cause of FFXIV...we got to get a FFXIII trilogy and FFXV or Versus as it was before was delayed >__>.

[darkknightkryta]

Still wondering why SE made their main rpgs mmos during the last couple of years XD

Final Fantasy XI has made Square the most money of any Final Fantasy title.

[Raven]

Final Fantasy XI has made Square the most money of any Final Fantasy title.

What's crazy about that is Final Fantasy 11 didn't even manage to have 600 thousand active subscriptions at its highest point from what I remember reading years back. Final Fantasy 14 is celebrating 4 million registered accounts. I don't think anyone knows how many of those are active but if even a million of them are then it's already making them way more money annually than FF11 did. Not bad for a game that started off pushing Square Enix to the brink of bankruptcy.

[darkknightkryta]

What's crazy about that is Final Fantasy 11 didn't even manage to have 600 thousand active subscriptions at its highest point from what I remember reading years back. Final Fantasy 14 is celebrating 4 million registered accounts. I don't think anyone knows how many of those are active but if even a million of them are then it's already making them way more money annually than FF11 did. Not bad for a game that started off pushing Square Enix to the brink of bankruptcy.

Yeah.

[BasilZero]

What's crazy about that is Final Fantasy 11 didn't even manage to have 600 thousand active subscriptions at its highest point from what I remember reading years back. Final Fantasy 14 is celebrating 4 million registered accounts. I don't think anyone knows how many of those are active but if even a million of them are then it's already making them way more money annually than FF11 did. Not bad for a game that started off pushing Square Enix to the brink of bankruptcy.

Popularity in MMOs specifically MMORPGs has increased especially since WoW's hold on many people have weakened. The amount of MMOs both paid and F2P are a lot - so its no surprise if the MMO-playing population went up.

[darkknightkryta]

Popularity in MMOs specifically MMORPGs has increased especially since WoW's hold on many people have weakened. The amount of MMOs both paid and F2P are a lot - so its no surprise if the MMO-playing population went up.

Yeah, WoW's not what it used to be.  I'm not sure if Blizzard should start worrying though :/

[BasilZero]

Yeah, WoW's not what it used to be.  I'm not sure if Blizzard should start worrying though :/

I dont think they are worried considering they keep going from 7 - 9 mil from time to time.

The reason for the increase is because of new expansions.

They are getting so many subscribers that the amount of money they are making far outmatches any loss they have (or least compared to the loss of the total subscribers they originally have which was like 12-14 mil?).

Its the reason why they abandoned Titan too since it would eat up WoW's subscriber count. Why fix something that isnt really broken?

[Raven]

Popularity in MMOs specifically MMORPGs has increased especially since WoW's hold on many people have weakened. The amount of MMOs both paid and F2P are a lot - so its no surprise if the MMO-playing population went up.

Eh. WoW has actually managed to regain a significant amount of its subscriptions. I actually see the MMORPG scene as being in an uncertain state right now. Not necessarily one of increasing interest but rather a shifting interest. Trying to figure out what people want. The genre is torn between old school MMO mechanics and more modern, action-oriented ones. Pay-to-play MMOs are actually exceptionally difficult to be successful in the current market of increasing B2P and F2P. The fact that Final Fantasy 14 is successful where nearly all subscription-based MMOs fail is more a testament to the popularity of the name, marketing, and the quality of the game compared to anything else happening in the market.

[Raven]

I dont think they are worried considering they keep going from 7 - 9 mil from time to time.

The reason for the increase is because of new expansions.

They are getting so many subscribers that the amount of money they are making far outmatches any loss they have (or least compared to the loss of the total subscribers they originally have which was like 12-14 mil?).

Its the reason why they abandoned Titan too since it would eat up WoW's subscriber count. Why fix something that isnt really broken?

They actually went up to 10 million with this latest expansion and are maintaining it. Titan was abandoned because the project was taking too long for them to figure out what they actually wanted it to be and because they needed more people working on WoW. It didn't have anything to do with subscriptions because they could honestly care less if Titan took 5 million people from WoW's 10 million subs. Blizzard would still have 10 million people subscribing to their games and paying them monthly. Not to mention, Titan was going to be a very different MMO from WoW so it was unlikely that the two would "compete". Titan just took on a smaller form and one that was less intensive for them to work. It became Overwatch.

[BasilZero]

Eh. WoW has actually managed to regain a significant amount of its subscriptions. I actually see the MMORPG scene as being in an uncertain state right now. Not necessarily one of increasing interest but rather a shifting interest. Trying to figure out what people want. The genre is torn between old school MMO mechanics and more modern, action-oriented ones. Pay-to-play MMOs are actually exceptionally difficult to be successful in the current market of increasing B2P and F2P. The fact that Final Fantasy 14 is successful where nearly all subscription-based MMOs fail is more a testament to the popularity of the name, marketing, and the quality of the game compared to anything else happening in the market.

Hence why I said they are playing it in the safe side ;p.

By creating expansions that appeal more to the casual crowd but still reward old hardcore players with incentive to come back or to renew interest (in the form of new instances/dungeons etc). They have a healthy amount of subscribers (7-9 million average) even if it is below what they had a few years ago. Their not losing any money from hosting their servers or creating the expansions - their just not getting as much money but its a far safer and better bet than to create a all new MMORPG that has a risk of not being successful especially in the light of other competitors that are attracting more and more people (even though they are not as successful) plus why would they sacrifice their current sub base to have a new MMO take them away from a already strong base?

Not saying what they are doing is wrong because its what I would and whats best for their business - its smart so I got no issues with it.

Its great that SE managed to break a mil for FFXIV though.

Anyways, I dont like MMORPGs - I quit them for good :O.

I've played Ragnarok Online and World of Warcraft (among other F2P MMORPGs which arent worth mentioning).

If I were to get back to MMOs it would be a Pokemon MMO (which will never happen because Nintendo is incompetent on the treasure trove they have) or if I can get to a point in my life where I can be safe with monies/job security and have time (so school wont be a issue), and find a group of friends/people who I can play the game with - people I know - then I would more than likely invest on Final Fantasy XIV.

But at this moment in time that wont likely happen anytime soon...especially the latter part :/.

[BasilZero]

They actually went up to 10 million with this latest expansion and are maintaining it. Titan was abandoned because the project was taking too long for them to figure out what they actually wanted it to be and because they needed more people working on WoW. It didn't have anything to do with subscriptions because they could honestly care less if Titan took 5 million people from WoW's 10 million subs. Blizzard would still have 10 million people subscribing to their games and paying them monthly. Not to mention, Titan was going to be a very different MMO from WoW so it was unlikely that the two would "compete". Titan just took on a smaller form and one that was less intensive for them to work. It became Overwatch.

I still think the servers would cost them a lot of money and they wouldnt gain much profit. But ya the development was taking too long so its best to pour the resources to one game that already has a legacy and reputation.

Making Overwatch is a great idea because its not really a MMORPG but like a co-op competitive game that would probably more than likely be as successful as games like CS or a MOBA game .

[Raven]

Hence why I said they are playing it in the safe side ;p.

I don't see anything in your previous posts that is you saying anyone is playing anything safe.

By creating expansions that appeal more to the casual crowd but still reward old hardcore players with incentive to come back or to renew interest (in the form of new instances/dungeons etc). They have a healthy amount of subscribers (7-9 million average) even if it is below what they had a few years ago. Their not losing any money from hosting their servers or creating the expansions - their just not getting as much money but its a far safer and better bet than to create a all new MMORPG that has a risk of not being successful especially in the light of other competitors that are attracting more and more people (even though they are not as successful) plus why would they sacrifice their current sub base to have a new MMO take them away from a already strong base?

Not saying what they are doing is wrong because its what I would and whats best for their business - its smart so I got no issues with it.

There is really no reason for Blizzard to make up a story for what happened to Titan. Do you really think they worked at it for years and only suddenly felt afraid of what it might do to WoW? They were never able to get Titan to be what they wanted. What they had created wasn't fun. The part that was fun was what became Overwatch. Blizzard doesn't have to play anything safe. They make money hand over fist with everything they release. This is a studio that has really never known failure. If they were creating a good product they would release it. Titan wasn't shaping up to be a good product. It's as simple as that and happens more times during development than we'll ever know.

Its great that SE managed to break a mil for FFXIV though.

Anyways, I dont like MMORPGs - I quit them for good :O.

I've played Ragnarok Online and World of Warcraft (among other F2P MMORPGs which arent worth mentioning).

If I were to get back to MMOs it would be a Pokemon MMO (which will never happen because Nintendo is incompetent on the treasure trove they have) or if I can get to a point in my life where I can be safe with monies/job security and have time (so school wont be a issue), and find a group of friends/people who I can play the game with - people I know - then I would more than likely invest on Final Fantasy XIV.

But at this moment in time that wont likely happen anytime soon...especially the latter part :/.

I have a hard time maintaining interest in MMOs these days. Mostly because there hasn't been an MMO that combines a setting of anime space sci-fi with all of the features and content types I want. I'm just really burned out on the fantasy setting and current sci-fi MMOs are too stale.

[Raven]

I still think the servers would cost them a lot of money and they wouldnt gain much profit. But ya the development was taking too long so its best to pour the resources to one game that already has a legacy and reputation.

Making Overwatch is a great idea because its not really a MMORPG but like a co-op competitive game that would probably more than likely be as successful as games like CS or a MOBA game .

You're going to play it with me and I'm going to shoot you. A lot.