The latest instalment of the Final Fantasy series and the second to be of the MMORPG variety has had a rough time since release a couple of months ago. The game was ripped apart by reviews, which cited a clearly unfinished, sloppy product filled with boring mechanics and simply not enough things to do. In order to combat this the free trial period for those who purchased the game was extended twice to give players a taste of the November update. This was not enough, it seems.
FFXIV players will be waking up this morning to an e-mail from Square Enix apologising for the state the game is in and the rather drastic steps they are taking to fix it.
CEO Yoichi Wada states; “While more than two months have passed since the official launch of FINAL FANTASY XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that FINAL FANTASY fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies. After thorough deliberation on how to meet those expectations, it was decided that the most viable step was to approach improvements under new leadership and with a restructured team.”
Below is the statement’s list of objectives and changes. The most shocking of which is perhaps the further delay of releasing the game for Playstation 3.
Changes to the Development Team
Producer/Director: Naoki Yaoshida
Assistant Director: Shintaro Tamai (FFX, Front Mission 5)
Lead Game Designer: Nobuaki Komoto (FFIX, FFXI)
Lead Combat System Designer: Akihiko Matsui (FFXI)
Technical Advisor: Yoshihisa Hasimoto (Next Generation Game Engine Development)
Lead Programmer: Hideyuki Kasuga (FFXI, Dirge of Cerberus)
Senior Concept Artist: Akihiko Yoshida (FFXII, Vagrant Story)
Lead Artist: Hiroshi Takai (FFXI, The Last Remnant)
Lead UI Designer/Lead Web Designer: Hiroshi Minagawa (FFXII, Vagrant Story)
Extension of the Free Trial Period
The game is currently free to play due to constant extensions of the original 30 days free with a purchase of the box. This will continue until the team are confident that they can provide “a plan that outlines a level of enjoyment that will satisfy both us and our customers.”
Delay of the Playstation 3 Version Release
Originally slated for March, the PS3 version is on hold for an unstated period of time. The stated says; “The Playstation 3 release will be delayed until we are confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the FINAL FANTASY name for users on all supported platforms. We offer our sincerest apologies to any fans anticipating the Playstation 3 release, and humbly ask for your continued patience and understanding.”
There was also further promise of the content being added in the final update of the year later this month which, among other things, introduces Notorious Monsters (NM, a concept from FFXI). The statement by the team then ended with a promise from Naoki Yoshida to do everything they could to improve FFXIV under the new management structure and a further personal apology from Hiromichi Tanaka to fans.
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