Quantcast

Final Fantasy XIV Freeplay Ends This Year, PS3 Version Beta Coming In Late 2012

By Spencer . October 14, 2011 . 1:30am

Square Enix has been making major changes to Final Fantasy XIV to fix the game and the service has been free for people that bought the PC version. That’s about to change because between late November and early December, Square Enix will move the online game back to a subscription model.

 

But, that doesn’t mean Square Enix is done working on Final Fantasy XIV. Director Naoki Yoshida shared a concept screenshot of Final Fantasy XIV 2.0, which will be a totally new version of the game.

 

Final Fantasy XIV Freeplay Ends This Year, PS3 Version Beta Coming In Late 2012

 

Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 will begin with a geological anomaly that shakes up the earth and changes the map. That story bit will allow the team to redesign maps and axe the seamless world. Yoshida says this will allow them to build more dynamic maps. The game’s graphics will get an overhaul for high end PCs and PlayStation 3. Existing players will be able to re-customize their characters for 2.0. Square Enix also plans on completely changing the servers to a world-less model and scrapping the UI in favor of a new interface with multiple windows and a different interface for gamepad users.

 

Being an online game, community is the most important component of Final Fantasy XIV. And Square Enix (surprise) plans on changing this too. Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 will have player houses called estates, the ability to create free companies with other players, in-game item delivery, and player vs. player content.

 

Final Fantasy XIV 2.0′s for release and public testing sometime between September and October 2012. Around the same time Square Enix will launch a PlayStation 3 closed beta test and reinstate another trial period for the PC version. Finally, Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 will go on sale for PC and PlayStation 3 after January 2013.

 

Adding subscription fees is a big change for Final Fantasy XIV and we’re curious to see how many players will stick with the game for an extra year while 2.0 is in development.


Read more stories about & & on Siliconera.

  • Suicunesol

    So it’s basically Final Fantasy 14-2?

    *whew* They really won’t give up, will they?

    • RablaAndrews

      With retarded logic like that, they’d be up to XIV-20

      • Suicunesol

        Well, they’re basically saying they’re changing almost everything, right? Even the graphics and the hud. As opposed to before, when they were just patching and adding things for version 1.xx like any other MMO. It’ll be like a completely different game from the way they word it. They didn’t explicitly put “2″ in the title, but it might as well be, wouldn’t it?

        That might even be a better idea considering the stigma associated with FFXIV.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

    okay … what about Versus ?
    Late 2013 ?

    • OneOkami

      PS4 launch title? (Honestly at this point it wouldn’t surprise me)

      • http://www.facebook.com/JaeWhy SasuleUchiha

        maybe …

      • http://twitter.com/#!/kaishou Kaishou

        It would surprise me. Suddenly changing platform is damn right wrong.

    • skymap

      Probably around the same time.

    • http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

      Should be on track for 2012, what other FF title is there to even work on.

  • http://twitter.com/mniscariot mniscariot

    Wait, wait… Am I reading this right? There’s basically no point in putting any time or effort into the game now because they’re going to force you to start from scratch again in a year anyway?

    So Square Enix is actually planning to break the game again despite all the current fixes?!

    • Scrooge_McDuck

      No, you are not reading it right. There’s nothing to suggest that they’re going to force you to start from scratch again.

  • AzureNova

    This news doesn’t sound that bad at all. I will await to see how 2.0 operates in the future. =)

    • LezardValeth

      Nooooope.

  • http://www.ukanime.com abigsmurf

    The changes are possibly very good and may turn the game into a decent MMO but… Having played it at launch and found it to be flawed in every area (except for the very pretty graphics), I have no desire to invest more of my life into the game on the offchance they’ve performed a miracle.

    It’s going to be tough enough bringing customers back while it’s free, let alone once they start charging for it.

  • http://www.rukinet.com/ Rukishou

    Sure it’s not too early? In any case, I’m going to have to cancel my subscription before they start taking my money, because with all the games coming out this November I won’t be able to afford it. Besides, with all those aforementioned games, I won’t have time to play any MMORPGs for months, including Star Wars: The Old Republic which I’m planning to get at launch anyway.

    Not to get mine or anyone else’s hopes up, but I hope to playing this with my friends and having a lot of fun in say, a year’s time. :3

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Derrik-Ormsby/1383271175 Derrik Ormsby

      You have to agree to resubscribe for them to take money, you don’t have to stop the fee from occurring.

  • leadintea

    A bit miffed that us PS3′ers won’t get this game til 2013. Still, the changes do look nice…

  • http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

    If it wasnt pay to play, i would give it a shot, but no.

    • OneOkami

      Funny thing is, if you were an early adopter, you could’ve played it for a year as if it wasn’t :P

      • http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

        On the ps3 i mean, my computer sucks in a really horrible way

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000301072427 Mark Shaver

    CRAP! I just bought the dang game and the free ness is almost over? NOoooo!

    • http://twitter.com/#!/kaishou Kaishou

      Same here, I bought it for £5 and played it just because it was free. I’m glad I didn’t subscribe to it before because it was damn right terrible with the daily limit (which i guess is removed now) and confusing interface (I find it confusing, not sure about everyone else).

  • EvilRedEye

    They’ve wasted time they can’t afford to lose with the PS3 version. By the time it comes out there’ll be no telling how long it will be until the PS3 is superseded by a new Sony console.

    • http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

      The new Sony console will not be backwards compatible with a PS3 game? I dont really see how that would matter, especially if FFVXIII has an equal chance of coming out at the same time as this FFXIV.

      • EvilRedEye

        It’s not a case of more powerful hardware being backwards compatible through sheer force, you need to use similar components, probably by the same manufacturer. So it’s not a given the PS4 (or whatever it’s called) will be backwards compatible, although obviously it’d be an advantage.

        If they’d not totally cocked up the game then the PS3 version would have been available for a good few years in the prime of the console’s life. Now it’ll get perhaps two years.

  • http://twitter.com/#!/kaishou Kaishou

    Square Enix should really adopt free to play with in-game purchases like every other online games. Seriously give me a reason WHY I should subscribe to a game that failed at first but is becoming what it meant to be a year later?

    • ThePariah4231

      Blame the original team. They made it fail, and they were kicked from the door. Don’t judge the entirely new dev team just yet; soon enough we’ll see whether it’s truly worth the wait. I’ll be getting it; I don’t mind waiting. It’s not like I don’t have other games to play in the mean time.

      • Gatchaman1

        You can’t convince everyone. There’s far too much negative reaction and bad word of mouth on this game as it is. This is like the equivalent of continuing to see your local priest and giving his local church money each sunday after you found out he molested some kids.

        • ThePariah4231

          I don’t want to convince everyone. I just find it stupid that people claim to know about a game and how it supposedly fails in every field and then leave it completely at that despite the obvious improvements.

          For instance, I know people that all-out hated FF13, and know nothing about XIII-2 and are comparing it to X-2 despite everything announced and shown clearly marking it the Far superior title over the original, but they just don’t care because they think they know all they need to; they’re really missing out.

          I’d like to think of FF14 2.0 as it’s variant of XIII-2, in that everything possible is being done to improve the game.

          • Gatchaman1

            Well thats looking at the bright side of things but my point is their credibility has been severely damaged that is fact. So I question the idea or gall if you will of them doing a subscription fee when other MMO’s that don’t have such a negative stain on them are F2P or will soon be.

          • ThePariah4231

            Simple. Take RIFT and World of Warcraft for example.

            Now, I don’t see who’s credibility has been damaged? Square Enix’ as a company? I think not; the entire FF14 team has been replaced; just like any other reasonable company would do. the new guys? Too soon to tell. The original team? Certainly.

            On the subscription note, nobody said SE would not take a partially F2P approach, like WoW. Though, it is plainly obvious that SE desperately need to recover losses from the free to play time previously.

  • Ladius

    At this point, I think they should just let it die.

    People will flee from this game as soon as the subscription fee is restored (and the current userbase is tiny as it is), the PS3 release will be far too late to be relevant (hell, 2013 could be the year PS4 is announced), the MMORPG fanbase has already collectively deemed FF14 a failure aside from anything Yoshida could do (and a new trailer with a 2.0 rerelease will hardly be perceived as a new game, even if they are trying to do just that) and there are extremely strong MMORPGs coming out in this timeframe, from The Old Republic Bioware one to Guild Wars 2 and numerous others.

    I appreciate that they’re trying to salvage a failed project with countless improvements, but it’s too little, too late and their best bet was going F2P, not ending the freeplay before even pushing out the big patches or the 2.0 version.

    • ThePariah4231

      You’d think that. Just be patient. So many people so quick to judge. It’s sad, really.

      • Ladius

        So quick to judge? The game has been out since last year, and most MMORPG gamers have already abandoned it or dismissed it as a failure, while those still playing the game to see its changes are only a small minority (and that’s probably gonna change for the worse once they implement subscription fees).

        Also, I have no direct interest in this game and (as I said) I appreciate they’re trying to salvage it, especially since the new team is actually trying its best.

        Fact is, I don’t think this is a financially sound move and I fear they will just end up losing more money due to the many reasons I listed (and you didn’t bother to counter).

        • ThePariah4231

          People in general are stupid, impatient little beings that just want things instantly to be perfect.

          I see it as quite a financially sound move, because if they’re actually serious about changing the game completely, I’m more than certain it will be featured in gaming news sites and there’s a high probability of the game being reviewed again. Of course, this is assuming that people can call themselves fans of the FF series. Those that are patient and genuinely interested will likely find a very nice game after this is released. In that regard, take versus XIII. the amount of people thinking it will suck for reasons entirely their own is quite surprising.

          If you have no direct interest, why the hell are you here?

          • Ladius

            Because I’m interested in Square Enix and after reading the news I wanted to share my thoughts, like anyone else here? Do you have opinions only regarding subjects that directly affect you?

            Also, calling people “stupid, impatient little beings” for disliking a game that was basically a beta at release is both offensive and absurd. It’s not like people are bashing a game that’s not even out, and in my case I wasn’t bashing anything at all, since my point was that continuing to push money in a game that’s already been dead for months in the eyes of most MMORPG players is quite risky.

            It’s commendable for SE to try to fix the game (and the improvements seem to be really substantial), but in the current MMORPG market it’s an uphill battle to recapture gamers that you weren’t able to hold with your first release. Is it wrong? Probably so, since FF14 v2 will end up being almost a different game, but ultimately it was SE who released a barebone game last year.

          • ThePariah4231

            I understand that it’s a risk decision, but I can see it paying off very well if they can market the changes properly and are actually able to show gamers and say “Hey, yeah, we screwed up huge. We know it, you know it. Here are All of the improvements we’ve made, and this is why you should pick FF14 over the other MMOS; *list of reasons and changes*”

            If they can get it right, it might just well succeed.

  • sandra10

    Dang, this really lowers the chances of Versus coming out in late 2012 (what I was expecting). I’m a little sad.

    • ThePariah4231

      How does it lower the chances? Two completely seperate teams working on two completely different projects won’t slow each other down at all.

      • sandra10

        What company is going to release two AAA titles (budget wise) from the same franchise on the same platform near the same time? No company, that’s what.

        Edit: wait, I read it wrong. FFXIV 2.0 won’t be out until 2013.

        • ThePariah4231

          That’s right, you read wrong.

          Though, to answer your question, you seem to have forgotten Capcom.

          • sandra10

            You seem to not have given an actual example.

          • ThePariah4231

            You can’t find one for yourself? Sad. UMvC3. I rest my case.

          • sandra10

            Am I missing something here? What other fighting game from the MvC series is coming out on the PS3/360/Vita near November? There aren’t any? Then your example itself is “sad”. I’m not talking about games from the same series being released in the same year, I’m talking about games being released near the same time frame (usually the same quarter).

          • ThePariah4231

            A bad exmaple? I think not.

            “two AAA titles” MvC3, UMvC3. They are from the same franchise, and are different games.
            “fon the same platform” Same platforms.
            “near the same time” Same year.

            Though if you want a Square Enix example, I’ll show you this (going by north american release dates) All on the PSP, AAA games. Not from the same franchise, but nonetheless.
            Dissidia 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy: March 22, ’11
            The 3rd Birthday: March 29, ’11
            Lord of Arcana: January 25, ’11

            Even so, you’ve already admitted you’ve incorrectly read the article and jumped to comment like a kid, so why are we still discussing this?

          • sandra10

            Sad, buddy, not bad. You shouldn’t be knocking on my reading comprehension skills when yours are pretty poor.

            UMvC is actually an upgraded port of MvC, they’re not different games.

            They’re not being released in the same time frame. Same year=/=same time frame. If they were being released with, at most, months in between then you’d have some ground to stand on.

            You need to understand what a AAA game – it isn’t Lord of Arcana. You also can’t change my conditions to fit your explanation. They aren’t from the same franchise.

            Why are you being condescending? It must be nice to think you’re all that and a bag of chips when you can’t even comprehend what I’m saying. ;)

  • Lich King

    This FF is a fail :P stick to offline!!!

    • ThePariah4231

      Going by your name it’s more than obvious you’re a troll. Away with you.

      • Eilanzer

        troll or not…this game is a master fail on the back of SE =/

  • Luna Kazemaru

    You made a crappy game then made it free to play for the users that wanted to stay. Then you’re going to kick them in the ass because you THINK just changing the game gives you the right to charge the players again after you dropped the ball?…..GG Square Enix…GG

    • chicken_and_rofls

      What else are they supposed to do?  Just keep hemorrhaging money?  The game’s been free to play for an incredibly long time at this point, but right from the start, they told people the game would go back to a subscription model after large-scale changes were made.  I don’t understand what you expect them to do.

      • ThePariah4231

        He’s just one of those people that think severything actually works the way he theorises. Just ignore him.

        • chicken_and_rofls

          What, you mean Square-Enix DOESN’T lose money by keeping this game free?  I’d love to live in your world, where the basic rules of economics don’t seem to apply.

          • Gatchaman1

            Isn’t WoW and DC Online going F2P? Guild Wars II will also be F2P how is it they can survive

          • http://geekouts.blogspot.com/ miruki

            Welllll….. there’s kind of a difference for these titles, they’ve been running for years already and quite a lot people stopped playing after some years, I don’t believe the user base is as large as it was anymore hence less servers are needed, which means less money is needed to keep those up.

            I’m not very familiar with GWII and I also don’t have that much knowledge about WoW, as I got bored of that after a week, but Blizzard’s online store does sell in-game items for WoW and I bet they’ll keep that up even if WoW gets F2P, so imo it would only turn into a Freemium MMO, which means they’ll still make money with it. Probably. There’s enough idiots who spent money on an exclusive pet. That has no use in-game at all. :>

          • ThePariah4231

            People still have to purchase the game; they’ve only removed subscription fees.

            And you honestly believe that Square Enix are such a small company that they can’t make money from ANYTHING ELSE? Also, it wouldn’t matter if the game was free to play or not; either way they aren’t making that much of a loss.

          • chicken_and_rofls

            The game was budgeted for a subscription model.  It won’t make money unless they use that or microtransactions.  The purchase price of the game does NOT cover the overhead costs.

            And you STILL haven’t explained what Square-Enix is supposed to do.  You’re acting as though they should just give their product away for free in some bizarre act of charity.

      • Luna Kazemaru

        To me that doesn’t justify a think the player spent their money on this game along with the sub fees before its free and Square did not even them a quality game I’m surprised that the few people that stayed did.

        • chicken_and_rofls

          Again, what else are they supposed to do?  Just keep the game free and lose money for the next five years?  Or do you want them to shut the entire thing down?  Those are the two options they’ve got.

      • Gatchaman1

        Other MMO’s are going F2P though

  • http://twitter.com/spotted_slime L. R.

    And then the only people still playing it suddenly left…

  • http://alboreo.tumblr.com Alboreo

    I still log on occasionally just to talk with friends who may be on and socialize in general. That’s it, though- the game doesn’t have enough content to warrant a subscription, at least not to me. I’m sure there’ll be players who will stick around after the change, though. :)

    I do realize that they’ve been saying this was coming from the start, though. I still think that a “freemium” model would entice players much more, at least until 2.0 comes out. Selling cosmetic items and what have you. Regardless, the upcoming changes look nice and I hope that they can really turn the game around!

  • Gatchaman1

    And Dragon Quest X is now an MMO most likely pay to play as well. What are these games coming to?  Jeez I bought a PS3 for Versus XIII its been 6 years cmon man

  • DanteJones

    I’ll wait to see how 2.0 turns out and possibly give it a chance. I WANT it to be good since I loved playing FFXI, but that ball is in your court, SquareEnix. Make it happen!

  • theworldofnoboundries

    Seeing the FF 14 2.0 pics. the game looks interesting however with the free to play time going to end, i don’t think many of the old gamer would want to play the game anymore. Well maybe i should give it a try lol after all SQ has try to change this piece of crap into something noticeable.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Hart/100002316814779 Leon Hart

      i will still stick around but alot people in my server shouting that they wont stick around lol.

      they think it be free forever,

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Hart/100002316814779 Leon Hart

    i hope it improves and man i enjoy all 1.19 update. that was alot of new cs for the grand company of the 3 nations.

    love my chocobo and ifrit weapon ^^

    cant wait they change animation in magic! FFXI style yes plz!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Leon-Hart/100002316814779 Leon Hart
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=685220688 Vince Vazquez

    Redesigning maps, I’d imagine, would go a looooong way towards improving FFXIV.

    I’m very interested in this, when it comes to PS3.  I really hope this complete rebuild of the game is a significant improvement. But I haven’t heard many outlets actually revisit it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandy-Smith/100000878642568 Brandy Smith

    They’re screwed.

    They’ve made money off of the box sales for a broken game.
    The game is 50% done, but from the roadmap they’ve released, the fanbase won’t get that content 2 years from now. They release 3 NMs (Was finished in a week) They release 3 dungeons (Finished in a week) Then they release 2 “GAME SAVING” patches, that was actually 1 huge patch split in half that messed up a little more than it fixed and released that Ifrit battle that was also finished in a week.
    And the fanbase laps it up as if they’re going to get it now, I have never seen such sheep in my life. $15 is not worth paying for a BETA THAT ISN’T EVEN FINISHED AND WILL TAKE 2 MORE YEARS TO COMPLETE posing itself as a full fledged game. 
    SE was fixing the game to get back the players that left and never returned not the current fans that follow them, but now they’re definitely not coming back…..ever. (Especially not with better games coming out now)

  • Exand

    Reminds me a bit of a reverse Star Wars Galaxies. People (sort of) liked SWG before they did the entire revamp.

    I still drop in when a patch hits and try to see if anything has changed, and if 1.19 is any indication, 1.20 isn’t going to make me want to pay to play.

    And once they start charging I’m certainly not going to check in anymore, which means you’ve lost me (and what input I give on the forums) until version 2.0 hits. And by then, who knows if I’ll still care about this game.

    So gg SE, I thought you guys were on the right track, but you’ve clearly gone off the rails again. This game should be F2P until version 2.0 hit.

    What a giant farce this game has been.

  • Draparde

    hmm, i hear alot of positive things about 1.19. i wonder how this news will be taken though. either way i’ll still play it when it releases for ps3. 

  • Wiccan1109

    Ive been with this game since the day it was first announced. Ive done beta testing, i went through the ‘omg its crap’ phase, but for lack of much to play i stuck with it. Its true i wouldnt have lasted on it without friends, and i dont defend the fact that this game was a horrendous disaster.

    However speaking as someone who has been here from start to present, if you go to the website and downloaded their plans, you’ll see this isnt a few half hearted patches and super glue. The redesigns are beautiful, soulful and alive, and theyre joining the rest of the modern era with all the MMO genre basics. Pretty much everything from combat and story to items and appearances is changing. This doesnt make up for whats happened but it sets them up for an entirely fresh start, which is what they want. It wont please everyone, nothing ever does.

    They lost a LOT of trust, and i think they need more time and work to even begin to regain it. The money thing isnt a popular move but i cant imagine their ideal budgets for this game can survive a complete rework in 1 year without some help. To be fair, a large % of current players have always admitted to wanting to leave the day charges start, regardless of what state the game was in. To people wanting to leave and come back at 2.0, well, i think thats a very fair decision.

    2.0 is going to be an entirely NEW game from what we have seen. I’m not saying it will be better or worse, none of us can fairly say that til we play it, but everyone in my LS is doing cartwheels over those information packs, old and new alike.

  • GGear0323

    i think a lot of people or overestimating the damage done by the initial launch of this game. yeah, it was a broken mess, and we all know how hard they have been at work at fixing it. first of all, you have to remember that FFXI worked out really well for SE. by almost any definition of success in the current world of MMORPGs, FFXI did its job. but what they are basically doing is prepping for a full relaunch. which means they, like us, know full well that a lot of their players will drop the game in the immediate future once it goes back to subs. the people that stick around and pay will just be extra revenue for SE. 

    but once they do come out with the revamp, it will be treated like a whole new game because that is what it will be. it will be reviewed by gaming sites and publications once again, it will have a new look, new UI, new maps, stories, characters, systems, etc…. and on top of all of that, it will still be a FF MMO which is reason enough for a lot of people to give it a go once again. 

    and i think the PS3 version will do fine. there isn’t exactly a lot of console MMOs coming out down the road and i think that the release of the PS3 version will help with the relaunch of the PC version with regards to thinking of version 2 as a ‘new’ game once again. and there is NO chance this will go F2P. it was just never designed for that. 

  • RablaAndrews

    Okay, seriously, this comment section is ridiculous. Rather than posting a heap of comments, I’ll just do it all in one.

    FF14 will bomb as soon as the subscription fee is in?
    No, no it will not. It certainly won’t help, yes, but anyone who plays the game, visits the Lodestone and the Forums, knows that FF14 has a very devoted fanbase, myself included. Only a complete idiot would have played for this ENTIRE time and then decided “Oh, I have to pay? Nope”.

    FF14 is a complete mess?
    Sorry, I wasn’t aware it was still September 2010. The game has evolved since then, and its some of the most incredible growth to watch that i’ve ever seen a game and a community go through. I don’t play many large-scale MMO’s, so I might be a bit biased on my opinion, but there is barely anything wrong with FF14 as it is right now. And 2.0 is going to make it even better. The new Development Team are great at what they are doing.

    As for an actual comment from me, 2.0 looks lovely. That screenshot up there is pretty.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1418346484 Wesley Porcelli

    I JUST WANT A REFUND FOR THIS $80 PAPERWEIGHT YOU SOLD ME SE. LIES AND BROKEN PROMISES WHAT HAPPEN TO KEEPING SUBS FREE TILL THE GAME WAS GOOD. GAME STILL SUCKS AND ANY SHEEP TELLING YOU DIFFERENT ARE FANBOYS KISSING SE ASS.

Video game stories from other sites on the web. These links leave Siliconera.

Popular