Ahead of the release of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV expansion Endwalker on November 23rd, Square Enix has revealed that the popular and critically acclaimed MMO has surpassed 24 million players. And to top that, it was also announced that it has officially become the most profitable title in the entire Final Fantasy franchise. Those reveals were both made by Final Fantasy XIVย producer and director Naoki Yoshida during a recent Media Tour event offering new information about the Endwalker expansion.
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While the number of players is notable, so too is the astronomical growth over the years. According to IGN, part of the Media Tour included a chart that showed Final Fantasy XIV had roughly 4 million players in 2015 and then 10 million players in 2017 when the Stormblood expansion was released. That means that Final Fantasy XIV, over the course of four years, has more than doubled its number of players.
“I think if there’s one thing that really sets Final Fantasy XIV apart from other titles in the genre, it’s that we really aim for FFXIV to be a gold-standard, story-driven MMO,” said Yoshida, according to PlayStation’s blog. “I think that’s an important point of differentiation compared to other MMO titles.”
The success of Final Fantasy XIV is a particularly noteworthy story considering the MMO’s disastrous initial launch. The rework and relaunch of the title as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is one of those stories that is constantly brought up whenever another MMO or live-service video game fails to initially meet expectations. And given its continued success, there’s a good reason.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, the latest and greatest expansion for the popular MMO, is set to release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam on November 23rd. Early access will be granted to those who pre-order the expansion on November 19th. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Final Fantasy XIV right here.
What do you think about the success of Final Fantasy XIV? Are you personally looking forward to the release of the upcoming Endwalker expansion in November? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!
