It’s hard to imagine nowadays butFinal Fantasy 14was once regarded as an objective failure for Square Enix. When the MMORPG released in 2010, it was panned by critics and fans, eventually leading to its PlayStation 3 release being indefinitely postponed and the game was eventually shut down after only two years. But ever since it was revived asA Realm Rebornin 2013,Final Fantasy 14has only become more and more popular and has now passed a significant milestone.
According to IGN, during a hands-on preview event for the upcomingFinal Fantasy 14:Endwalkerexpansion, director Naoki Yoshida revealed thatFinal Fantasy 14now boasts over 24 million players. Yoshida shared a chart with press to show how the player count has grown sinceA Real Rebornreleased eight years ago. In 2015, it had 4 million players. By 2017, this had jumped to 10 million, and this has now more than doubled in the last five years.
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Not only that, but Yoshida adds that this has led toFinal Fantasy 14becoming the most profitable entry in the entireFinal Fantasyseries. Yoshida adds that, going forward, Square Enix will only continue to invest in the game and ensure that it continues to be highly enjoyable for its players.
With a comeback of this magnitude and growing players counts and profits, it’s hardly surprising that Square Enix wants to keep supportingFinal Fantasy 14. The aforementionedEndwalkerexpansion will mark the end of the main storyline which began back in 2013, but Yoshida has already said that the game will continue with a brand-new storyline. In fact, Yoshida has mentioned supportingFinal Fantasy 14for at least another 10 years.
Square Enix is by no means going to rely onFinal Fantasy 14profits going forward. The company still has a few important releases happening within the next couple of months, with itsGuardians of the Galaxygame out by the end of October and itsFinal Fantasy 7battle-royale spin-offThe First Soldierlaunching for Android and iOS scheduled to release later this year.
And then in 2022, it’ll have PlayStation 5 and PC exclusiveForspoken, alongsideStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which recently got a release date and a second playable trial to gather feedback from players. This isn’t taking into accountFinal Fantasy 16either, which still lacks a release date and has been shrouded in mystery ever since its announcement in 2020.
Final Fantasy 14is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
