Final Fantasy XIV Will Be Making More Content Accessible To Free-Trial Players

Final Fantasy XIV free trial players who still haven’t committed to the initial buy-in can look forward to getting access to even more free content. Square Enix recently announced its plans to expand the trial to include the full base game as well as the Stormblood and Heavensward expansions when Patch 6.5 comes out in October.

The announcement has led to hopeful speculation that the game will finally go completely free-to-play. Executive Producer Naoki Yohida, however, was quick to nip that hope in the bud. “I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded, but we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment,” he told Eurogamer.

Yoshida explained that the revenue from expansions is critical to keeping the game and future development alive. “Since a huge amount of time and money has been invested in the expansion packages, the revenue from sales of the expansion package itself is still very important in order to continue to make expansions on this scale,” he said. “We would like to constantly aim for the best on the business side as well to continue making a lot of content to be enjoyed.”

On the subject of new content, it looks like Yoshida and his team still have big plans for the 13-year-old MMORPG. He confirmed that he currently has no plans to start developing a new MMORPG unless he suddenly gets a burst of inspiration. He even described the prospect of building a new game as being “more difficult” than revamping FFXIV with the release of A Realm Reborn, which he noted seemed impossible but paid off in the long run.

Yoshida also reaffirmed his team’s commitment to improving the game, revealing ongoing work on the promised graphics overhaul coming in Patch 7.0. He also acknowledged the team’s efforts towards updating existing game systems, particularly those who work on backend and non-content-related systems.

“The attention tends to focus on staff who have come on to the front stage, but the server engineers maintain their specialist mindset, the UI teams provide steady work responding to feedback, and members continue to produce massive amounts of VFX and matching SFX,” Yoshida noted. “The vocal support given to them is a source of encouragement for the entire team.”