Yoichi Wada, CEO of the Japan-based game company SE (Square Enix), is now facing great pressure from the investors because of the sharp drop of SE's share price which's caused by the media and players' continuous criticism on FFXIV (Final Fantasy XIV). In a recent interview, Yoichi Wada said that F2P might be taken as a point of breakthrough to change FFXIV's current embarrassing situation.
In the latest financial conference, SE confirmed that it had encountered a drop in both earnings and share price recently, and its eye-catching FFXIV naturally became the focus of the reporters. Yoichi Wada said that he had got a general idea about the users of Dragon Quest-like games and those accustomed to F2P games, and believed that such users got different feelings in different business models. As is the case with Facebook, F2P makes players able to enter the game freely and introduce the game to their friends more conveniently as well. Yoichi Wada was confident that FFXIV could accustom itself to the micro-transaction business model, and thus change its current situation.

personally i believe they do not need go f2p.the game will be great after the stuff is sorted out and fix and ppl will flock back to it.

this wada guy is the reason the game got into this situation.if only they let someone else take over lol.

however on positive side.if they do make it f2p.the amount of ppl playing will be much bigger.but i worry for game unbalance if they do implement it.

on the second note.this game is pve anyway.so i don't really care if they add cash shop items to the game.but i will be suffice to say i rather they keep it p2p and just merge some server instead of going f2p.

its a bold step that could make or break the game.

whatever decision they make i think they should decide only after mid dec update patch where most basic stuff is fixed.if they decide to go f2p now before things is fix i foresee a lot of even bigger bad reviews coming up lol

oh in spite of all these happening.i still love this game.esp the frequent updates and stuff.much better then altus smt last time ^^

this was the financial problems i been saying for weeks theyve had. i dont see how F2P gonna fix it tho. IMHO their best bet is to just patch fixes AND content ASAP, like 1 huge patch late Nov early Dec. Shut the skeptics up. But if this wasn't in their plan, and the up coming patches are less than satisfactory, then this game will probably end up like APB or go F2P... but honestly, F2P games more complete/functional than this. sad management and bad business moves on SE's part. Shoulda just waited release in December or whenever they could've had at least more basic mmorpg functions in game and functioning.

It's all in hindsight tho. I still like the game. Really more frustrating than anything is the majority of non-English speakers. I get ignored 3/5 times by grind pts. And the JPs that i do interact with are great, but a majority not even making efforts to translate make this server just unpleasant.

this just shows that FFXIV was released far to early, they should have waited till march with the ps3 release. I'm looking forward to see the new patches,

and more importantly finding some time to play, things have been a bit crazy for me atm, which is why i havent been on.

it's allright Facade, did all the stuff settle a lil bit after those quakes?

Oh Noes! F2P is Baddddd! I really cant afford to play a cash shop game atm and even if I could I really dont want to. If they do make it free to play I want my money back for the box set they made us buy! Grrrr

madryno wrote:this was the financial problems i been saying for weeks theyve had. i dont see how F2P gonna fix it tho. IMHO their best bet is to just patch fixes AND content ASAP, like 1 huge patch late Nov early Dec. Shut the skeptics up. But if this wasn't in their plan, and the up coming patches are less than satisfactory, then this game will probably end up like APB or go F2P... but honestly, F2P games more complete/functional than this. sad management and bad business moves on SE's part. Shoulda just waited release in December or whenever they could've had at least more basic mmorpg functions in game and functioning.

It's all in hindsight tho. I still like the game. Really more frustrating than anything is the majority of non-English speakers. I get ignored 3/5 times by grind pts. And the JPs that i do interact with are great, but a majority not even making efforts to translate make this server just unpleasant.

IMO, F2P should not be considered an only solution. A major review of work practices, starting in the customer feedback department, should be their first course of action. SE's situation is almost a parody of Microsoft. That mega software company's 2nd top owner had to sell off 75 million shares a week ago after a decade of market performance decline.

Language makes a big difference in an online game. A strong point of playing an MMO is having human interaction across physical borders. If it feels as lonely as playing a single player title, then what's left is enjoying the quality features of the game by itself.

FFXI done just fine. Even with language etc, FFXIV just released far to early, it wasn't ready, to many key features missing which is why its having issues atm imo.

i think FF 14 also is release way to early we are not done yet with the economic crysis

that can take a few years til we are out off that we hope

so many ppl keep there mony in the wallet
so that a new p2p dont get much players that is no suprice to me

so how many ppl play atm FF 14 ?? are the servers full ??
if there not half full it wil cost to much for the companie to get the mony back

thats what i think sorry if am wrong ^^

but most off the time its that problem for P2P mmorpg not get many players for the game

It's wrong to think that p2p doesn't get many players.

In fact p2p gets more mature players that are willing to pay that fee, and a lot less little kids that can't. Making the community more mature overall.
On top of that it prevents, the huge spread of botting/goldselling/hacking, because if you plan to bot/hack/sell gold you are risking to loose a paid account if you get cought.

Even if you have less players on your p2p servers, you are ensured all of them are paying customers, rather people that r just testing stuff out, or not willing to pay.

mmo games can always fall back to server merging in case the starting ammount was too big, which is way too early for FFXIV to even think about, because this release was way too early and the upcoming November and December patches are adding/fixing most of the important missing and not propperly working stuff. That FFXIV is still going to see it's peak ammount of players.

They release on PS3 next year is when the game should be judged for real, because by then they will have all their main problems worked out, and by then the new big content patches will be rolling out.

Most of the people that are playing right now, are not playing because they'r 100% sattisfied with the game, but mainly because we know that the game is going to be good. We are taking our time right now to work on our lvl ups, getting our money, getting our gears to be ready for the upcoming fixes and expansions, that once the game is ready for it, we can dive straight into the fun content, rather then having to start our characters then and wait for the lvl ups, and learning of the system.

but also a P2P needs mony to keep going right and with less players

in a long run it wont do any good for the companie

a F2P get mony from cash shop they hope but thx to the smart thing they nerf some things in the game you a forced to buy some things in a cash shop

so F2P always get mony in a way xD
mostly the nerf drop rate and succes rate of crafting and so on

and with some items in cash shop you can up the rate more ^^

Exactly, which makes competing in an F2P game unfair compared to a P2P game.
Because in an F2P game, as long as someone is prepared to pay enough, they can buy anything, while in P2P you are on even ground.

Keeping up the game is mainly the server cost and whatever is extra developement.

If the playerbase gets lower, they lower the ammount of servers, making it less necessary to have a huge playerbase.

For players P2P is a much better state then any F2P while I agree for companies it might turn out pretty nasty.

5 Reasons Why Final Fantasy 14 Will go Free to PlayAs many of us already know, Final Fantasy 14 had a bit of a disastrous launch. The pay to play MMORPG from Square Enix, which released in late September 2010, received largely negative reviews across the board, with an average aggregate score of 48.64% on GameRankings (as of this writing). I personally had a chance to play FF14 in its beta testing phase and aside from a terrible interface, I was largely impressed with what the game had to offer. The purpose of this piece is not to bash on Final Fantasy 14, as I personally think the game has a lot of potential, but to explore the possibility of the game relaunching as a free to play title. I personally think it’s not only possible, but likely in the future. Why do I think Final Fantasy 14 will be free to play? Read on.


Final Fantasy 14 – Gorgeous Graphics

#1 Free to play would Revive the Playerbase
Although Square Enix hasn’t officially released any subscription numbers for the game, it’s easy to estimate the game’s popularity by simply looking at the total number of players online at any given time. Looking at these figures, it’s easy to notice that fewer players have been logging into the game since release. On October 4, 2010 Final Fantasy 14 had about 43,000 players online at once across all of its servers. On October 25 it only had 36,345 players online. For a game that just launched, these numbers are incredibly disappointing. One easy way for Square Enix to turn these numbers around would be to drop the monthly subscription fee and embrace free to play. Players who bought the game could be compensated with premium credit in the game’s new cash shop. Going free to play would act as a much needed phoenix down for the declining playerbase.


Final Fantasy 14 Players Online in October

#2 Free to play would Increase Revenue
Pay to play games dropping their subscription fees isn’t exactly a new concept. Dungeons and Dragons Online originally released back in Feb 2006 as a pay to play MMORPG, but relaunched as a free to play game three years later. Since going free to play Dungeons and Dragons enjoyed a huge surge in playerbase and their revenues increased over 500%. Since The Lord of the Rings Online dropped their subscription fee, their total concurrent players increase 300% with total active players surging over 400%. Revenues for the game also doubled since going free to play. These are just two exmaples of pay to play games going free to play; there are many more. By dropping its subscription fee, Final Fantasy 14 would not only increase revenues, but also reach a much larger audience the same way The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online did.


The Lord of the Rings Online Enjoyed a 300% Increase in Playerbase Once Going F2P

#3 Players are Upset with the Current State of the Game
As is, many Final Fantasy 14 players are upset with the current state of the game. This doesn’t mean the game can’t change later, but those extremely frustrated with the game today will likely quit, and getting those interesting in the game to give it a second try later in the future could prove to be difficult. Final Fantasy 14 has a lot to offer, but many players don’t want to pay monthly given the current state of the game. Realizing that players are upset, Square Enix extended the free month of playtime that came with the game from 30 days to 60 days, meaning Square Enix hasn’t even collected a dime of subscription revenues as of Nov 10. What’s going to happen when players are asked to fork over $14.99 a month to continue playing? Going free to play would give players an incentive to stick around while Square Enix adds new content and irons out all of the bugs.


Final Fantasy 14 Has Beautiful Graphics but limited content and numerous bugs

#4 Japanese Developers Aren’t New to Free to Play
Even though most free to play MMORPGs today are either from China or South Korea, Japanese game developers aren’t new to the concept. Uncharted Waters Online is a successful Japanese developed free to play MMORPG available on both the PC and PS3. The game has proven to be a success in Japan and launched in English on the Netmarble portal in late 2010. The game is available in the West only on the PC, the PS3 version is Japan only. Techmo Koei, the Japanese developer behind the Dynasty Warriors franchise recently launched Dynasty Warriors Online as a free to play game world-wide through Aeria Games. The game has been available in Japan since the middle of 2006. If Final Fantasy 14 did go free to play, it most certainly would not be the first Japanese developed free to play MMORPG.


Dynasty Warriors Online – A Free to Play Japanese Developed MMORPG

#5 Free to Play is the Future
Let’s face it – free to play is the future of MMOGs. New free to play MMOs and MMORPGs are launching each and every month, with many of them being extremely high quality games. On top of this, more and more pay to play MMORPGs are dropping their subscription fees. Sony Online Entertainment already released a free to play version of EverQuest 2 while Pirates of the Burning Sea and Champions Online announced that they would be going free to play in early 2011. North America has always been the biggest market for subscription based games, but with so many of these games in dropping their subscription fees, it will be difficult for Final Fantasy 14 to justify its fee.


Pirates of the Burning Sea is Dropping its Subscription Fee

Final Fantasy 14 is an interesting game with a lot to offer. As a big fan of Final Fantasy franchise, FF14 is a game I would personally try getting into if it went go free to play. What are you thoughts on Final Fantasy 14? Would you consider playing it if were to goes free to play? Share your thoughts in the comments below!



like i said with a low player base the game get it trouble
and i see FF 14 dont even have 40k player base anymore

maby they change some things

btw i play PWI but ok the grapics are not soo good as FF 14 but dam the game self is solid build
even no ore almost no hackers ore cash botters to be found thats for me the reason i stay
the game is amazing big and i mean big lots to do many classes soon 2 new classes to be added
and lots more

also so far i tested china mmorpg and korea mmorpg for me china do alot better atm

Personally, I laughed when you said PW got no hacks cause my brother was one of the many players that hacked in INSIDE the dungeon run. ^^

Not including his friend that hacked the cash shop price by dropping it to mass buy the items. Oh yea, did I mention another real life friend of mine was the GM team leader in PW last time and how he rather quit the job since it is so corrupted?

Don't justify a game only because you liked it. As far as I know, the reason I'll rather FF14 to stay P2P is because it balances the game better. If it turns f2p, god knows what would the cash items do.

On top of what Vynchie said, PW, botters/hackers/exploiters are mostly high lvl players by now, lvl 95+ since they never got banned.
And that's why you don't see that many of them at low lvls like 60

Anyway FFXIV will not go f2p, the only people shouting that are the people that are NOT playing the game.

Anyone with a little bit of sense would check out the plans of Square Enix and what they'r planning to do in the next months rather then just blindly shout, the bad release numbers.

Stuff like f2p would revive the player base make me go lmao, the playerbase is no where near dead, and most of it is just being cautious, and waiting if SE is going to fulfill the promises that they made for the coming months. If they do so, what they r more then capeable of, the current playerbase will not only stay, but also start to grow again.

Then next step is when the PS3 release comes, is when FFXIV should be judged for real. Now when that launch is there you will see this game score 80~90/100