Wada: Final Fantasy XIV a Serious WoW Rival

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Square Enix wants to take on Blizzard with its upcoming MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV.

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada told Develop that the company is looking to take on Blizzard's monster MMORPG, World of Warcraft, with its own offering, the upcoming MMOG Final Fantasy XIV. That's a bold statement considering that Final Fantasy XI for the PC, PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360, its previous MMORPG that connected all three platforms together, failed to become a house-hold name.

But Wada and Square Enix seems determined to overpower the Blizzard giant. In fact, he questioned Blizzard's ability to successfully create a sequel to World of Warcraft, citing failures of other companies who had a great 1st MMOG but an unsuccessful sequel. But he did admit that Blizzard is a tough competitor, however talking about who can make a bigger sequel doesn't change the fact that World of Warcraft has over ten million subscribers. That's quite a mountain to conquer.

With that said, could Final Fantasy seriously be a threat to World of Warcraft's throne? Wada offered a earnest yes, but also said that both games will offer consumers a choice. "We believe there is a number of people that will stay attached to each title, but we are optimistic in that sense for Final Fantasy," he said.

Wada goes on to talk about the MMORPG itself, and how it will retain the monthly subscription fee structure. Square Enix also decided to change the gameplay to some extent, making it less party-specific and easier for solo gamers to embark on quests alone. Final Fantasy XIV is expected to launch sometime in 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and Games for Windows.

Kevin Parrish
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • logitic
    A solo friendly MMO...

    AOC was a solo friendly MMO with no endgame content. It didn't do so well. I think Wada just wants free press. Nobody should come out and challenge WoW before they even make servers.

    Sounds like a lot of talk and no action.

    But hopefully I am wrong. Would love to see some fresh meat in the MMO pool.
    Reply
  • sliem
    Fresh meat? how about star trek online?
    Reply
  • Honis
    its current MMORPG that connected all three platforms together, failed to become a house-hold name.
    Parrot the news and facts, not your opinion.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI
    Reply
  • logitic
    sliemFresh meat? how about star trek online?
    I actually have a friend by the name of Kue that is doing Art work for Star Trek Online. Haven't gotten a beta key, so don't know how it will play. But I am pretty sure ST online is not going after WoW's Costumer base.

    Kotor online should also be coming out in 2010.
    Reply
  • Manos
    Yeah this is a failed attempt. As much as i love FF titles I have to say that not only they failed to get any close with FFXI which ofc means nothing, but if you know and have heard of the elemts of FFXIV, not only it wont get any close again, but also its already failed for me. Im a FF fun and WoW veteran who is sick of it hoping for a year or 2 now that a refreshing new MMO will be worth staying at. Have tried everything and have had guilds at everything. Meaning that I did way more than just try them. Well im sorry but FFXIV sounds like an MMO thats not worth to even try so far. I do hope they change a lot of the shit i heard from them so far cause it will suck if its as bad as they made it sound..

    P.S. I sure as hell hope they are right and surprise me though. Been waiting for something like that in the MMO field to happen.
    Reply
  • Onus
    Subscription model? (monthly fee > mag subscription) = FAIL.
    Reply
  • shouyou
    manosYeah this is a failed attempt. As much as i love FF titles I have to say that not only they failed to get any close with FFXI which ofc means nothing, but if you know and have heard of the elemts of FFXIV, not only it wont get any close again, but also its already failed for me. Im a FF fun and WoW veteran who is sick of it hoping for a year or 2 now that a refreshing new MMO will be worth staying at. Have tried everything and have had guilds at everything. Meaning that I did way more than just try them. Well im sorry but FFXIV sounds like an MMO thats not worth to even try so far. I do hope they change a lot of the shit i heard from them so far cause it will suck if its as bad as they made it sound..P.S. I sure as hell hope they are right and surprise me though. Been waiting for something like that in the MMO field to happen.
    Same here I love the FF RPGs but the MMO wasn't so appealing. I'm hoping the new Star Wars Old Republic is good.
    Reply
  • spagunk
    The biggest thing about a successful MMO is that it has to be accessible. Your average person, coming off the street, will NOT have any idea what the whole FF franchise is about. IMO Final Fantasy suffers from Aeon Flux syndrome: Too many non-converging plot points with little to no symmetry. I can tell you right off the bat that there is nothing inherently in common between the current Final Fantasy series and FF 1. This alone is a hurdle that needs to be overcome for the MMO to be accessible.

    WOW, on the other hand, has a rich story line that has an understandable progression (not perfect mind you) that follows a more western hemisphere story line. But foremost is that it is accessible. Anyone can pick the game up and play it without any prior experience with the story or the game.
    Reply
  • astrotrain1000
    FFXI does a good job of capturing the essence of the Final Fantasy universe. FFXIV graphically looks awesome. I play FFXI now and they've made some good changes the last few years. I think they are using it as a test bed for 14.
    Reply
  • maestintaolius
    Well, if they go the grinderific model that was FFXI (where you not only have to level your toon once, but multiple times not to mention the horror that was crafting) I don't see this taking off. Grind crazy games like L2 and whatnot do well over the Pacific but not so much here. Also, it'd be nice to have more variation in mobs, at level 5 you're fighting rabbits, at level 55 you're fighting rabits, no change in powers (other than they hit harder), heck, not even a palette swap. At least in EQ1 the orcs changed colors at higher levels and learned some new spells.

    The other issue I had with the game (I played for about a year after it came out) is how hard it was to get on the same server as your friends, I don't know if this is still the case. Also, since the game was out for a year in Japan before here there was a huge power disparity between the US and Jap players. And the final thing I disliked was WHM were less desirable than RDM and you were even less desirable unless you were one of those ugly taru taru things. Which made getting on a team, which was pretty much required to do anything, kind of difficult.

    That said, I would love for a FF MMO to come out that's a little more solo friendly. Currently the only MMO I enjoy is the CoX franchise because of how friendly it is to casual play and the fact you don't need the Holy MMO Trinity to do anything.
    Reply