Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, Heavensward, releases June 23rd and introduces new stories, an increased level cap, a new race, new battles, new dungeons, and new mounts. More significantly, it introduces DirectX 11 graphics, offering better quality visuals at the expense of higher system requirements. To better prepare players for the road ahead, Square Enix is offering a benchmarking tool.
You can download the benchmark tool here.
(Source: FFXIV Press Release)
Square Enix’s Thursday Livestream has come and gone, and the announcements were not all great. Square unveiled the Vana’Diel Project, a three part strategy to continue support for the aging MMO. The first part, unfortunately, involves ending content updates. Following a three chapter scenario aimed for launch in May, August, and November, Final Fantasy XI will cease to receive content updates.
FINAL FANTASY XI’s major version updates will conclude with the implementation of the final chapter of Rhapsodies of Vana’diel, but there will continue to be minor version updates that address bugs and contain various balance adjustments.
Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 users will be sad to hear that services for those platforms will end in March 2016. Final Fantasy XI will be ported to be playable on mobile devices, alongside the launch of a mobile RPG in 2016.
(Source: FFXI)
Square Enix will be holding a livestream this Thursday to discuss the future of Final Fantasy XI. Considering that this is a Japanese livestream, however, you’ll need to be up pretty early (3am EST) and probably understand Japanese. For the rest of you who need your beauty sleep, the dedicated community will no doubt have the important notes available in your preferred language by the time you wake up.
Speculation is already rampant on what this announcement could be, from buy to play to losing legacy support, sunsetting, and a new expansion.
(Source: MassivelyOP)
Final Fantasy XIV is hosting a free weekend to celebrate four million registered accounts. The free weekend begins Friday February 27th at 3am EST and goes until March 9th at 4am EST. Eligible accounts include anyone who has previously purchased the game, with an account in good standing, whose subscription has lapsed.
Otherwise if you haven’t purchased FFXIV yet, you can take advantage of the game’s free trial at your leisure.
(Source: FFXIV)
Square Enix today has released their nine month period report ending December 31, 2014, and the news is good. Compared to the report from the same time last year, figures have increased across the board in substantial numbers. Operating income has shown an 89.6% boost to $126.02 million, net sales up 16% to $1.01 billion, net income up 110.8% to $92.8 million, and ordinary income up 65.6% to $140.73 million.
In their filing, Square Enix pointed toward the success of mobile and PC browser platforms for its success, titles like Sengoku IXA, Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light, and Final Fantasy Record Keeper. MMORPGs such as Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X were also noted for “making favorable progress.”
Also contributing to Square Enix’s success is the continued growth of comics and merchandise licensing, while the arcade sector has maintained itself despite decreased sales through efficient store management. Overall, Square Enix projects the end of year sales to hover around last year’s figures.
(Source: Square Enix)
With the recent release of patch 2.5, Square Enix has announced another free weekend. Players with inactive accounts will be able to log in from January 30th until February 2nd. Who is eligible?
Players who have previously purchased and registered FINAL FANTASY XIV and whose service account is set as inactive during the campaign period.
For more information on patch 2.5, check out the official website.
(Source: Square Enix Press Release)
Patch 2.5 is set to be the last to drop before the launch of Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, Heavensward, and it will be split into three parts to better distribute the content. If you have ten minutes to spare, take a look at the trailer below to see what is coming in the first update on January 20th.
Part one of Patch 2.5 drops on January 20th with the next part coming in February and part three in March.
January is upon us, and that can only mean one thing: the 2014 fiscal year is ending and the 2015 fiscal year is beginning, well for most people. This year MMO Fallout plans on expanding our coverage of quarterly reports with even more analysis, so now is as good a time as any to show off the anticipated schedule for this year’s coverage:
Presently MMO Fallout more heavily covers NCSoft, Perfect World Entertainment, Star Vault, with heavier coverage of Electronic Arts and unconfirmed other companies coming. I will be covering Square Enix, but only in their annual reports.
I will make a note in the actual report, but Square Enix’s fiscal year runs a little different from the other companies, so try not to be too quick in hitting those comments when you see “annual report for 2015 fiscal year” being published in May. Once again, Square Enix’s 2015 fiscal year roundup is published in May, as it covers April through March. Clear as mud? Good.
If you have any ideas for content you’d like to see added in the quarterly roundups, go ahead and drop a comment.
Square Enix held its latest fan fest in Tokyo just last week, wasting no time in revealing new dribble of information regarding Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion Heavensward. The expansion will be paid, and introduces a wide variety of new content including a new race and new jobs (classes).
The new race is called the Au Ra, a dragonkin race with horns and scales from the eastern continent of Othard. Among the three classes is the Dark Knight, a magic-based tank who wields a greatsword and utilizes dark magic. The second class is the Astrologian, a healer class that uses a divining deck to cast spells.
Finally, the last class is the machinist, a dps class that uses firearms and machines to attack its foe.
Heavensward will also increase the level cap to 60 and introduce new dungeons and missions. Check out further coverage and screenshots at the link below. Heavensward launches Spring 2015.
(Source: MMO Culture)
Playstation 4 gamers interested in trying out Final Fantasy XIV will be able to do just that, as Square Enix today announced a 14 day trial will be available. The trial gives players the opportunity to level up to 20, with certain other limitations, as well as the ability to transfer trial characters over to the full game. As of this publishing, the trial does not appear to be available on the North America Playstation Network.
Those looking to save a few bucks should look into buying the Playstation 3 version (which is generally available at a cheaper cost) and taking advantage of the free upgrade program, currently available until March 31st.
(Source: Square Enix press release)
MMO Fallout 