Tag: Square Enix

Final Fantasy XIV 360 Not Cancelled, Just Delayed Forever


Square Enix

If you check any gaming related website, electronics store, or wikipedia, you’ll find that Square Enix is set to release Final Fantasy XIV on the 30th of September for the PC, and sometime in March next year on the Playstation 3. What you won’t find, on the other hand, is a release date, or an acknowledgement of the Xbox360 version of Final Fantasy XIV, and Square Enix would like to rectify that.

In a recent interview with VG247, producer Hiromichi Tanaka stated that the 360 version of the upcoming Final Fantasy MMO is in fact not canned on the 360, but has rather been delayed and put on hold while talks continue with Microsoft. Going further into details, Tanaka explained that Xbox Live is virtually the only hurdle keeping Final Fantasy XIV from continuing development on the platform.

I’ve been pretty unrepentant in the past with my feelings towards Microsoft and have always backed up my philosophy that if you are a console gamer looking for an MMO, your best bet is to stick with a Playstation 3. The hurdles that the developers have been reaching with Microsoft are essentially set at Microsoft’s love of money, and their need to stick their fingers into everyone else’s cookie jar, leading to the point where a deal between Microsoft and the BBC to offer streaming BBC over Xbox Live (at no cost to Microsoft) was turned down because Microsoft couldn’t make any money off of it.

As much as I hate to play the pessimist, those who are waiting out on a 360 version of Final Fantasy XIV might as well wait in line behind those still hoping for a console edition of Champions Online, Age of Conan, and Star Trek Online, who are standing right over there with the folk waiting for Duke Nukem Forever and the rapture.

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

Final Fantasy XIV: No Microtransactions


PS3 Compromised.

When Realtime Worlds announced that All Points Bulletin would not feature a cash shop, of course they meant “unless the voices in our heads tell us that the community wants a $25 mount.” Whether or not you enjoy paying over an existing subscription fee, I think we can all agree that the cash shop system is sweeping its way through the MMO frontier, regardless of what you or I may think about it. There are real concerns in your favorite MMO swapping to a Turbine model, or the Cryptic/Sony double-dipping system.

Fans of Final Fantasy XIV take heart: Square Enix will not be putting a cash shop in (unless you ask for it). And even if you ask for it, Square will adamantly refuse to allow a person’s real money equate to how much power they have in-game, meaning that anything added to a FFXIV cash shop will be vanity only. Although there are those who oppose cash shops in subscription games in all forms, vanity or not, this news should bring a sigh of relief to those holding off their preorders out of fear of a Turbine-esque shift some six months to a year in the future post-launch.

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears.

Checking In On The BBB


A Bureau For Better Business

Earlier this year I started Checking In With The Better Business Bureau, a segment talking about the consumer protection group with no authority. Back in February I checked up on a few MMO developers to see their scores, and this time I want to go more in depth on each company and their score.

For those of you who have forgotten or do not live in the United States, the Better Business Bureau is an independent organization that fields complaints and offers the company a chance to respond. The idea is to create a web of trusted businesses where people can check what is being complained about and how the company reacts to those complaints. When it comes to your score, a business can maintain a good score if they respond in a way that pleases the BBB.

Blizzard: B

  • Blizzard’s score has plummeted from February’s A+ rating. The BBB’s explanation is as follows:
  • “Recent complainants allege the company closed accounts on 130,000 users without providing notice, and accused them of using “hack” techniques to cheat on gaming. Most of these complainants deny any illegal usage, and in some cases, they challenge the company to provide them some proof of the alleged violation. The company responds in some cases concerning faulty servers by advising that new servers installed should remedy the problem. The company addressed a few complaints regarding account terminations by issuing the same letter in each instance of complaint, accusing the complainant of cheating, lying or using hack programs.”

Cryptic Studios: C+

  • Cryptic’s rating has remained steady since April, and the BBB has some kinder words for them than Blizzard.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows that the company responded to and gave proper consideration to most complaints. However, more than one complaint is unresolved meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate.”

EA/Mythic/Bioware: A

  • Technically lumped into EA, the BBB scores Electronic Arts with an A.
  • “When considering complaint information, please take into account the company’s size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm’s responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.”

Funcom: A+

  • Funcom is maintaining their A+, with surprisingly few complaints in the past year. The BBB had this to say:
  • “BBB had previously identified a pattern of complaints concerningcustomer service issues. The company discussed with BBB in October 2008 ways to correct the cause of the customer complaints. Complaints have decreased in volume since the meeting.”

Gala-Net: F

  • For those of you unaware, Gala-Net is gPotato, publisher for such games as Allods Online and Aika Online.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows that the company responded to and gave proper consideration to most complaints. However, more than one complaint is unresolved meaning the company failed to properly address the complaint allegations or their response was inadequate.”

Jagex: C-

  • This is based off of one complaint.

NCsoft: B-

  • NCsoft is up, from a C- to a B-. According to the BBB, this is due to a few unanswered complaints:
  • Based on BBB files, NCsoft Corporation has a BBB Rating of B- on ascale from A+ to F.
  • Reasons for this rating include:
  • Failure to respond to 5 complaints filed against business.

Sony Online Entertainment: A

  • Most of the complaints, according to the BBB, are from people who forget to cancel their trial accounts.
  • “Consumer complaints received by the BBB allege difficulty in using this company’s online gaming service and being over billed or billed after they cancel the trial offer. In response to these consumer complaints, Sony indicates that some of their games may come with a limited number of days of game-play with purchase of the game software…”

Square Enix: A

  • Along with Sony, score remains in place.
  • “Our complaint history for this company shows the company gave proper consideration to complaints presented by the Bureau.”

Turbine Inc. : A+

  • Technically now part of Warner Brothers.
  • The BBB had nothing of interest to note.

A few companies on the list slipped in the past couple of months, most notably Blizzard over that mass ban. I guess it depends on how these companies view the non-authority of the BBB that dictates their reactions.

More on the BBB in three months when I follow up this article.

Final Fantasy XIV: Delays And Pricing Structure


PS3 Compromised.

I’m not a fan of cross-platform games as the more systems that are added to the fray, the higher the odds for delays due to unforeseen problems on one system. The end result is that, in an attempt to please everyone in the crowd, the developer delays all of the titles in order to ensure a simultaneous release, even if it means a delay of up to a year or more. MMOs, thankfully, have not had this issue. Given their release dates, the rest of us can breath a sigh of relief that Funcom never decided to delay Age of Conan for the never-released 360 port, or Champions Online with the also-never-released 360 port, and now Star Trek Online for its now-canned 360 port. In the case of Champions Online, the 360 version was fairly close to release, shutting down due to issues with Microsoft.

So bully to PC and tough luck for PS3 as Square Enix decided that they will release the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV this September, while the PS3 version will be delayed until March 2011 (at least). The PC version will hit at the end of September, and not much has been said specifically what caused the PS3 version to be delayed.

Even more interesting was the announcement of pricing structure. Players will be given one player and one ‘retainer’ character. The retainer character essentially acts as an official mule, managing the player’s sales and storage. Creating alts is possible, up to 8, but each one will tack on an additional three dollars, a month, to your subscription. Given the versatility of the player (able to level up all jobs), and the possibility of Final Fantasy XI’s grind making its way to XIV, an alt is unnecessary.

More on Final Fantasy XIV as it appears. Hopefully we won’t see any 20+ hour Pandemonium Wardens.

Square Enix's Servers Breached:


Personal data compromised...

Dear valued FINAL FANTASY XI/TETRAMASTER player:

Square Enix is committed to protecting your user information. We have just been alerted to a potential breach of Square Enix’s secure systems from an external source. This may have resulted in the disclosure of a limited number of PlayOnline IDs, passwords and user account data. Please be assured that your credit card data has not been compromised. We are taking this matter very seriously and are conducting a full investigation.

As a precaution we are notifying you of this potential breach and we are resetting your PlayOnline password.

Please contact our Support Center by web chat and obtain a new password that differs from your prior password. Please keep this new password safe and always be on the alert for any “phishing” emails that ask you to disclose personal or financial information.

Support Center
http://support.na.square-enix.com/jump/chat2/
Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 9:00AM to 6:00PM
*This week only, the Support Center will handle calls for this issue on Saturday June 5, and Sunday June 6.
*Please note that due to a large number of calls, it may take a long time until your call is handled. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Again, we apologize for this inconvenience and we thank you for your continued support.

I’m not going to say I doubt Square Enix’s word when they say that credit card information has not been compromised, but if you do subscribe to Final Fantasy XI, or have in the past, you should keep a very close eye on your credit card for the next few months, and possibly remove it from your account information if you are unsubscribed. Current subscribers should consider switching over to a pay-by-card method. Better to be safe than sorry.

I say this because no game company’s lawyers would ever allow them to admit that credit card information might have been stolen if there is no existing evidence of it. To do so would incite panic and lawsuits that the company neither needs or can afford, especially in a time where information is so sparse and various IT teams are scrambling to plug holes.

To say Square Enix will be ruined by this, as a few trolls are, is overkill. To say that there won’t be backlash and a heavy amount of distrust between company and fanbase is disingenuous. Luckily Final Fantasy XI has a long history of keeping account information safe, so perhaps this will be shrugged off as a one time incident that didn’t result in any real harm.

Square Enix has been sending the above email to affected players, and reports indicate that a few players have had their passwords reset by Square. More on the account breach as it appears.

Square Enix’s Servers Breached:


Personal data compromised...

Dear valued FINAL FANTASY XI/TETRAMASTER player:

Square Enix is committed to protecting your user information. We have just been alerted to a potential breach of Square Enix’s secure systems from an external source. This may have resulted in the disclosure of a limited number of PlayOnline IDs, passwords and user account data. Please be assured that your credit card data has not been compromised. We are taking this matter very seriously and are conducting a full investigation.

As a precaution we are notifying you of this potential breach and we are resetting your PlayOnline password.

Please contact our Support Center by web chat and obtain a new password that differs from your prior password. Please keep this new password safe and always be on the alert for any “phishing” emails that ask you to disclose personal or financial information.

Support Center
http://support.na.square-enix.com/jump/chat2/
Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 9:00AM to 6:00PM
*This week only, the Support Center will handle calls for this issue on Saturday June 5, and Sunday June 6.
*Please note that due to a large number of calls, it may take a long time until your call is handled. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Again, we apologize for this inconvenience and we thank you for your continued support.

I’m not going to say I doubt Square Enix’s word when they say that credit card information has not been compromised, but if you do subscribe to Final Fantasy XI, or have in the past, you should keep a very close eye on your credit card for the next few months, and possibly remove it from your account information if you are unsubscribed. Current subscribers should consider switching over to a pay-by-card method. Better to be safe than sorry.

I say this because no game company’s lawyers would ever allow them to admit that credit card information might have been stolen if there is no existing evidence of it. To do so would incite panic and lawsuits that the company neither needs or can afford, especially in a time where information is so sparse and various IT teams are scrambling to plug holes.

To say Square Enix will be ruined by this, as a few trolls are, is overkill. To say that there won’t be backlash and a heavy amount of distrust between company and fanbase is disingenuous. Luckily Final Fantasy XI has a long history of keeping account information safe, so perhaps this will be shrugged off as a one time incident that didn’t result in any real harm.

Square Enix has been sending the above email to affected players, and reports indicate that a few players have had their passwords reset by Square. More on the account breach as it appears.

I'll Be Watching: Fantasy Earth Zero


Final Fantasy?

Readers of MMO Fallout know that, despite my strange methods of secrecy, I generally leave out various points for one reason or another. So in response to reader Dex’s question, also sent in by a few others:

“Why do you refer to there being two Final Fantasy MMOs at the end of 2010? Technically there are three: Final Fantasy XI/XIV, and Fantasy Earth Zero.”

Why that is an excellent question. Fantasy Earth Zero is a title you may have just heard of recently as that Korean F2P MMO with Square Enix’s name on it that I’ve seen ads for on MMORPG.com. When Fantasy Earth Zero launched in Japan-only in 2008, it tanked. In fact, to say that the game tanked would be a disservice to the short months that the game was active before Square Enix shut it down.

Like any good resurrection story, this of course continues with Gamepot picking up the publishing rights and relaunching under a free to play, cash shop model. Accumulating over nine million players, Gamepot shuffled the title over to the West, where it launched just over a week ago. Fantasy Earth Zero is an action-based title, with large Kingdom Vs Kingdom (50v50) battles being the main draw of the game.

So I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Fantasy Earth Zero. Being free definitely gives you an edge over your fellow Final Fantasy MMOs, but I’ve also seen your level of grind, and boy is there a lot of it.

I’ll Be Watching: Fantasy Earth Zero


Final Fantasy?

Readers of MMO Fallout know that, despite my strange methods of secrecy, I generally leave out various points for one reason or another. So in response to reader Dex’s question, also sent in by a few others:

“Why do you refer to there being two Final Fantasy MMOs at the end of 2010? Technically there are three: Final Fantasy XI/XIV, and Fantasy Earth Zero.”

Why that is an excellent question. Fantasy Earth Zero is a title you may have just heard of recently as that Korean F2P MMO with Square Enix’s name on it that I’ve seen ads for on MMORPG.com. When Fantasy Earth Zero launched in Japan-only in 2008, it tanked. In fact, to say that the game tanked would be a disservice to the short months that the game was active before Square Enix shut it down.

Like any good resurrection story, this of course continues with Gamepot picking up the publishing rights and relaunching under a free to play, cash shop model. Accumulating over nine million players, Gamepot shuffled the title over to the West, where it launched just over a week ago. Fantasy Earth Zero is an action-based title, with large Kingdom Vs Kingdom (50v50) battles being the main draw of the game.

So I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Fantasy Earth Zero. Being free definitely gives you an edge over your fellow Final Fantasy MMOs, but I’ve also seen your level of grind, and boy is there a lot of it.

Final Fantasy XI: Going Nowhere, In A Good Way


Because dumb employees can be managed...

Last month I wrote about how someone at Square Enix is sooo fired, when a high level Human Resources employee blabbed the following:

“I think some amongst you will know, but FF11 started in 2002 … Well, this year it’ll end and the stage will shift to FF14.”
-Square Enix Employee

Of course, with the nature of the internet, fans went wild. Is this an indication that Final Fantasy XI is going to be shut down when XIV comes out? Is this confirmation? Who knows? Square Enix knows, but unless that answer is anything other than “yes, we are shutting down,” anything they say is likely to be ignored by the group of players who are now convinced that the title is indeed set to be canned later this year.

But Square Enix has turned around and confirmed that no, not only is Final Fantasy XI not getting the boot this year, it is receiving even more updates! Square has announced three new scenarios for the not-so-Final Fantasy MMO, as well as an increase in the level cap to 99 (because all good updates have increased level caps). In addition, players will also see the gift of two new summons for use in battle.

So there you go, Final Fantasy XI..ers. If the announcement of new updates isn’t enough to convince you that the title isn’t going anywhere (at least for now), at least you’ll be occupied for the long grind to 99, long enough to forget about your woes.

Someone At Square Enix is Getting Fired…


Only thing worse than a dumb employee...

In my current line of customer service work, saying the wrong thing to the wrong customer can be devastating. Odds are, if you tell a customer exactly where they can stick their refund, you’re going to get fired on the spot. Now, business can do all they can to stop employees from saying stupid things, as that just leaves one or two customers annoyed and potentially lost for good. Meanwhile, when an employee reveals something maybe they shouldn’t have, or reveals something that, despite false, damns the company, then you’re going to have a real problem on your hands.

Enter Square Enix! I don’t get to talk about Square Enix, nor their unconventional conventions of MMOs, so I always jump on the opportunity… So essentially once since MMO Fallout started. MMOsite is reporting on a Square Enix Human Resources employee who revealed the following on his blog:

“I think some amongst you will know, but FF11 started in 2002 … Well, this year it’ll end and the stage will shift to FF14.”
-Square Enix Employee

Now being Mr. I-Hate-Rumors, I immediately assumed one thing: This means Square Enix will shift much of its attention towards Final Fantasy 14, which makes sense. As for Final Fantasy XI being shut down; considering the number of players who still enjoy XI, and the message shutting down such a profitable game would send that player base, Square Enix would have to be more insane than normal to think that the players would just jump right over to XIV. Sure, some will, but overall Square will wind up with a predicament similar to that of Asheron’s Call 2.

Final Fantasy XI is eight years old this year, and still remains one of the (if not the) most popular MMOs in Japan. The game is showing its age, but by no means is the title ready to go on the cart. No, I think Final Fantasy XI has a good few years left in it, assuming Square isn’t using Final Fantasy XIV as the club to beat XI to death. There are still plenty of events planned for Final Fantasy XI, yet to come.

Luckily, Square got right on the case: The post has been removed and there has been an announcement that the post is a lie. That being said, thanks to your average sensationalist blogs, the topic will be on whether or not Square Enix is lying.

It’s always a good idea to tell your employees, especially your Human Resource people, not to reveal information that might be damning to a game, especially if the information isn’t really damning, but you’re going to word it in a specially cryptic fashion that makes it look so.

More on Square Enix as it approaches.