Final Fantasy 14 director shuts down free-to-play rumours

There have been some massive Final Fantasy 14 announcements recently, including the reveal of the next expansion and the announcement of the game coming to Xbox consoles for the first time. There have been rumours in the past that the game may transition to a free-to-play model, but Square Enix says it has no plans to make that change. 

While the Final Fantasy 14 free trial will be expanded to include the base game and the first two expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood, the game will not be going free to play anytime soon. Speaking with Eurogamer, director Naoki Yoshida said: “we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment”.

While Final Fantasy 14 won't be going free-to-play, Yoshida did explain that the free trial will likely be expanded further in the future: “I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded”, he said. “Since a huge amount of time and money has been invested in the expansion packages, the revenue from sales of the expansion package itself is still very important in order to continue to make expansions on this scale. We would like to constantly aim for the best on the business side as well to continue making a lot of content to be enjoyed.”

Final Fantasy 14 is now ten years old, so there has been a lingering question mark over the possibility of a brand new Final Fantasy MMO. However, for now, Yoshida says the plan is to continue with 14 rather than moving on to a new game.

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KitGuru Says: Final Fantasy 14 has essentially reached WoW status, with millions of hardcore fans that are very willing to pay the monthly subscription free. With that in mind, I'm not surprised there are no plans to transition to a free-to-play model, which would also lead to more microtransactions that could fundamentally change the game and the way future content is produced. 

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