Another Final Fantasy XIV Could Destroy Square Enix

[Marshall Honorof]

Another Final Fantasy XIV Could Destroy Square Enix

A Realm Reborn will not launch until it is absolutely ready.

Berating Final Fantasy XIV for its disastrous launch is like chewing out Napoleon for his Russian campaign: It's a little late, and it's been done to death. While the game hurt Square Enix in terms of credibility, its financials took a significant hit as well. In fact, the game's director believes that another misstep of Final Fantasy XIV's magnitude could sink the company, which makes the game's imminent relaunch as A Realm Reborn all the more precarious.

One of the reasons why Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV's director, is hesitant to set a hard release date for A Realm Reborn is that Square Enix cannot afford - in any sense of the word - another poor launch. "We won't make a mistake like FFXIV again," he says. "[If] we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company." Even so, coding for A Realm Reborn began with a 16-month timeframe: an accelerated pace, in terms of MMOs. The pace has relaxed somewhat, since Yoshida believes that gamers will appreciate the attention to detail in FFXIV's 2013 relaunch. Launching it before the end of the year, he argues, would result in a product that fans wouldn't enjoy as much.

Until the game launches, it won't be clear exactly how A Realm Reborn differentiates itself from the original Final Fantasy XIV, but according to Yoshida, it will be more grounded in traditional MMO conventions than its predecessor. Much like Final Fantasy XI used EverQuest as a template, Yoshida cites World of Warcraft as a major inspiration for the relaunch, along with titles ranging from Ultima to Diablo to Dark Age of Camelot. "Unless you are a genius, you cannot make something completely new from nothing," he explains.

Knowing the financial stakes, A Realm Reborn's launch is sure to be instructive. Unless it goes well, all of those "Final" Fantasy jokes will suddenly become more relevant than ever.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5963155/new-final-fantasy-xiv-director-talks-about-what-went-wrong-with-the-original]

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[AldUK]

"Much like Final Fantasy XI used EverQuest as a template, Yoshida cites World of Warcraft as a major inspiration for the relaunch, along with titles ranging from Ultima to Diablo to Dark Age of Camelot. "Unless you are a genius, you cannot make something completely new from nothing," he explains."

^ This worries me a lot. We have World of Warcraft already, we have hundreds of attempted World of Warcraft clones, we've had Ultima, we've had Diablo, we've had Dark Age of Camelot. Why can't game designers really push the boat out and aim for something unique? You don't have to be a 'genius' as Yoshida states, you just need some creativity... and balls.

I was suckered into being excited about Guild Wars 2 for years, hoping for something truly unique, I feel a little let down about it, because while the game was solid, it wasn't quite the revolution we hoped for. Now I'm looking at Star Citizen as my next big hope for a different flavour of gaming, but we'll see.

 

[Kopikatsu]

If SE needed one big title to keep themselves going, I'd reaaaally have preferred them to put all their eggs in the Verses basket as opposed to this. I don't see how this could possibly end well, and I do definitely want Verses to get finished at some point in my lifetime.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Should've finished FF Versus 13

 

[Formica Archonis]

So, Final Fantasy was the game that saved the company and A Realm Reborn could be the one to kill it.

If this happens, the first paragraph of EVERY article on the company for the next 20 years will be exactly the same.

 

[littlewisp]

Ahh, I know it's their own fault or whatever, but I can't help but feel bad for them. I was in the beta, and while they did sorta ignore a lot of their american feedback (maybe they did the same for their japanese testers too), I do hope they're able to learn and move on. Maybe I'll wind up buying a copy. I never did buy it on release, not even when a friend told me it wasn't that bad. Eeeeeeyeah.

 

[tautologico]

"Much like Final Fantasy XI used EverQuest as a template, Yoshida cites World of Warcraft as a major inspiration for the relaunch, along with titles ranging from Ultima to Diablo to Dark Age of Camelot. "Unless you are a genius, you cannot make something completely new from nothing," he explains."

^ This worries me a lot. We have World of Warcraft already, we have hundreds of attempted World of Warcraft clones, we've had Ultima, we've had Diablo, we've had Dark Age of Camelot. Why can't game designers really push the boat out and aim for something unique? You don't have to be a 'genius' as Yoshida states, you just need some creativity... and balls.

I was suckered into being excited about Guild Wars 2 for years, hoping for something truly unique, I feel a little let down about it, because while the game was solid, it wasn't quite the revolution we hoped for. Now I'm looking at Star Citizen as my next big hope for a different flavour of gaming, but we'll see.

Lots of people got caught by the hype of Guild Wars 2 as the one game who would COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONIZE MMOs. When I see so many people putting so much hope into a game that is not even released, I get suspicious. I'm sure it's a good game but I don't think it lived up to the hype built around it.

 

[Roxas1359]

Sqaure Enix before you go under please finish up the Kingdom Hearts series. I want that to at least be finished before finances take you. Shame to see this happen though. They need a big game release to make a comeback outta this. The only games that come to mind are KH 3, FF Versus XIII, Kingdom Hearts HD, and FF X HD. Heck you'd of made more money if you released those International games outside of Japan! THat's the problem with Japan's game industry really, they focus on only a domestic market when they'd make way more money if they were to treat their North American and European fans with the same treatment that the Japanese market gets. Then again Sqaure Enix seems to be afraid of making money so really they don't have any sympathies from me.

 

[Falterfire]

Wait, they're banking the company on a game that's basically a direct competitor to WoW? Why not just call it a day now and just start applying for a new job?

The only way this has a CHANCE of surviving is with a very good free to play model. A subscription model will kill it instantly in the west and as far as I know there's already a ton of competition for eastern MMOs and they follow a distinctly different pattern from Western ones.

IF they have a solid free to play model, they might be able to survive, but otherwise they're fighting both Guild Wars and World of Warcraft for the 'High Fantasy' MMO spot and that's not exactly going to be an easy fight to win.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I don't know, if they manage to do this right it could be a long-time cash stream. 10 years later FF XI still has a sub model (albeit less than $14.99/mo) and has enough subscribers to keep it going. I might be gullible, but I have faith that they're not silly enough to outright copy WoW and trade the mounts for chocobos. I fully intend on picking it up if it's done right, because I miss XI but it's just way too old and slow-paced to jump back in now.

I think the one thing that can bite them is sticking with the XIV name, as it carries a pretty bad stigma right now. It'll be new to the PS3 players, and for this to succeed they should definitely have it ready for the PS3 when it releases this time. Unless it's too close to the eventual and hypothetical PS4/Orbis thing. How many people are actually playing XI on their PS2s right now?

 

[Grimh]

So what you're saying is that you're completely and utterly screwed?

 

[Mirrorknight]

Give me Final Fantasy XI without the horrible grinding (both character and crafting) and a bit more active combat and keep the awesome storytelling and music (ie, music from the core game, Zilart, and Promathia) and I'd be happy.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Just make Final Fantasy Versus 13, Kingdom Hearts 3 or a FF VII remake if you need to print money.

 

[loa]

They could always bet safely and, you know, NOT make shitty, risky, expensive mmorpgs no one asked for.

 

[DikkieDik]

"Give me Final Fantasy XI without the horrible grinding (both character and crafting) and a bit more active combat and keep the awesome storytelling and music (ie, music from the core game, Zilart, and Promathia) and I'd be happy. "

You're in luck Mirrorknight, i still play ffxi and grinding is no more, u can get ur char. up to 99 in one day.
although crafting still a b@#$h.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So from that statement, we can deduce that it's going to be re-released as a WoW clone, tank and then Squenix will no longer exist by the end of 2013.

Marvellous.

Begs the question, what on earth possessed them to press out XIV so far before it was a functional game?

 

[bigdork]

It sure sounds like they're way behind the curve. WoW is the game everyone was trying to copy eight years ago.

 

[fix-the-spade]

How many people are actually playing XI on their PS2s right now?

Outside of Japan, nobody. Inside of Japan, who knows, but Squenix released an expansion for PS2 last year, so somebody must be.