Don't expect Final Fantasy XIV to go free-to-play

Square Enix needs to keep the premium price tag to ensure the game's quality doesn't dip.

While the golden standard today for MMORPGs seems to be the free-to-play model, it doesn't seem like Final Fantasy XIV will ever go in this direction, according to director Naoki Yoshida. While speaking to Eurogamer about this topic, he did mention that free trials of the game might continue to be a thing, but added that they need the income of the client to continue to keep the game as premium as it actually is:

"I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded, but we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment. 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. 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."

Final Fantasy XIV is expected to get a boost in player numbers next month as Square Enix's ultra popular game (over 30 million players) is finally coming to Xbox after more than a decade as a PC and PlayStation exclusive title. It is definitely worth paying for, we promise.