If Oprah was running Final Fantasy XIV, I imagine the situation would have started with her gathering the development team into one room and shouting “Look under your chairs! You’re getting fired, and you’re getting fired! You’re all getting fired!” Okay, so Tanaka was the only person to actually get fired in the development restructuring, and it is possible that many of them don’t know who Oprah is, but you get the point. In the latest lodestone, Square Enix has announced a major restructuring to the FFXIV development team, bringing in the best and brightest Square has to offer to help bring this game to greatness.
But what does this mean for you, the consumer? Foremost, the free trial currently on its third month will be extended indefinitely until Square is satisfied with the experience they are giving. Square has made it quite clear that as long as they are not satisfied with the game, they will not take the risk losing what players have stuck through, by charging them a monthly fee to play an unfinished title.
On a lesser side, those of you who are waiting for Final Fantasy on the PS3 are going to have to change your plans, dramatically. The PS3 version of FFXIV has also been suspended indefinitely until the development team is satisfied with the direction of the game. At this point, I don’t think I need to tell you what happens when MMOs are delayed indefinitely on the console, but I’ve included a couple of links just in case.
So are we at Final Fantasy’s Final Fantasy? If Square can’t keep their subscribers during this transitionary period, even with the allure of no monthly fees, you bet your sweet Miqo’te ass it is. Of course, such a failure would not knock Square Enix out for the count, rather FFXIV would simply go the way of Asheron’s Call 2, the sequel making way for the original.
Final Fantasy XIV’s release is somewhat awkward for those of us who are MMO journalists, because we have to go to our editors (which in this case is me talking to myself) and say “I’ve seen bad launches, but this is exceptionally poor, but I don’t want to make it worse,” to which the editor (still me, stay focused) comes back and says “well then say it has potential.” Unfortunately the communities have evolved to the point where they pick up on these verbal gaffs, and “potential” has become synonymous with “this game is terrible and the writer just doesn’t want to admit it.”
Truth be told, every game has potential. Team Fortress 2 is a great game, and after three years of release still has the potential to become more. Final Fantasy XIV has potential, but will they pull it off like Square did with Final Fantasy XI (which was in a horrible state at launch in Japan), or will they go the way of FURY and shutter at around ten months? That is up to the new FFXIV team to decide.
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