...back in August Square Enix announced that the launch of new expansion Stormblood had helped drive Final Fantasy XIV's player base to over 10m, encompassing both free users and subscribers.
That's only 2m short of the 12m active subscribers World of Warcraft enjoyed at its peak, closer than any other MMO has come to surpassing Blizzard's opus without resorting to a full-blown free-to-play structure.
Keeping in mind these numbers include free users but that's still impressive. This article is a fairly interesting read.
I play both this and FFXIV and both have perks but I definitely cheer for FFXIV and hope it finds immense success. I adore WoW too in many ways but the King of MMOs almost seems too comfortable in its title. It needs some good competition, I think.
EDIT: To be clear the conversation I want to promote is differences in design philosophy and the possibility that FFXIV really could one day lock horns with WoW and how this is a good thing as healthy competition is needed on WoW's end. I really don't want people getting hung up on the numbers quoted in the article but that's what everyone seems to be doing.
I haven't tried FFXIV... I do however know it's on my radar, that I am likely not buying the next WoW expansion - especially if it's still going to be no-fly upon hitting max level. So I might be soon trying it.
I still think wow should enable the free to play to be till the expansion prior, so have the free model go to Draenor at this time. That way it gets people more interested in playing and they know what they are signing up for before hitting max level content.
Yes i agree that WoW needs competition, but saying that FF has reached peak wow numbers is a little disingenuous, seeing as how it includes f2p players, not just subscribers.
When it reaches 10m+ subs then We can talk. I'm not blizzard fanboying here, I hate a lot about this game, but I'd like to see them get 10+ members on active subs, not just "players total."
I understand the desire for Competition in the MMO market but you can't use two different metrics to compare them. Runescape is blowing both of them out of the water if we include free accounts.
Tbh, the fact that more people haven't tried it out kinda confirms that the MMO genera is dying out more than anything.
Never got past level 20 or 21 in the game. I do like FF though, especially for it's originality with monster models (Versus the often stagnant design that Blizz does when reusing models over and over and recoloring them) and some of the boss fights are very unique. You can tell they put alot into the game, but the story and grind were a little much for me.
Just out of curiosity is FF14 F2P like SWTOR or B2P like ESO?
Free to play with limitations up to level 35-- an extended trial period, if you will. TO go higher requires a sub.
So is FF14 basically cheating by including free accounts? Like wouldn't that be like Blizzard including every trial (up to level 20) account ever made in their numbers? Essentially including all inactive subs, as well?
The point the article is making is that FFXIV is coming closer than any other subscription based game and its numbers are still on the rise.
I say to read the article because Yoshida talks a lot about how tries to ensure FFXIV is successful, how he wants to catch up to WoW, but how he also still thinks the catch up is a ways off.
The title of this thread is the the title of the article Final Fantasy XIV: Closing in on peak WoW: At 10m players and counting, director Naoki Yoshida tells us how a generous free trial and a TV-style structure has driven the MMO to an all-new high
That's a bit click-baity, granted, but it's an interesting read to learn more about the design philosophy of another, decently successful MMO.
...back in August Square Enix announced that the launch of new expansion Stormblood had helped drive Final Fantasy XIV's player base to over 10m, encompassing both free users and subscribers.
That's only 2m short of the 12m active subscribers World of Warcraft enjoyed at its peak, closer than any other MMO has come to surpassing Blizzard's opus without resorting to a full-blown free-to-play structure.
Keeping in mind these numbers include free users but that's still impressive. This article is a fairly interesting read.
I play both this and FFXIV and both have perks but I definitely cheer for FFXIV and hope it finds immense success. I adore WoW too in many ways but the King of MMOs almost seems too comfortable in its title. It needs some good competition, I think.
... Free to play with limitations up to level 35-- an extended trial period, if you will. TO go higher requires a sub.
So is FF14 basically cheating by including free accounts? Like wouldn't that be like Blizzard including every trial (up to level 20) account ever made in their numbers? Essentially including all inactive subs, as well?
Depending on how FF14 is counting their accounts, yes, comparing it to WoW would have to include every free account also. That is why their number releases are misleading. They aren't reporting the same values as what Blizzard was reporting and are trying to compare the peaks when they are working from different units.
Don't get me wrong; I think FF14 is great. I've played it quite a bit and I hope it keeps doing well. The comparison of player metrics between the two is always going to be incorrect as neither one releases the values in the same format anymore (or ever).
The point the article is making is that FFXIV is coming closer than any other subscription based game and its numbers are still on the rise.
I say to read the article because Yoshida talks a lot about how tries to ensure FFXIV is successful, how he wants to catch up to WoW, but how he also still thinks the catch up is a ways off.
The title of this thread is the the title of the article Final Fantasy XIV: Closing in on peak WoW: At 10m players and counting, director Naoki Yoshida tells us how a generous free trial and a TV-style structure has driven the MMO to an all-new high
That's a bit click-baity, granted, but it's an interesting read to learn more about the design philosophy of another, decently successful MMO.
Except the idea of a free trial was used by WoW long before FF14 existed. And back during BC, 10 days and a maximum of level 20 was more than generous. That's actually how I got started in WoW.