Final Fantasy XIV hasn't been the success Square Enix was hoping for so far, and criticism against the game has been harsch. The trial period for the game has already been extended twice, and if you have an account for the game you've probably recieved an e-mail by now stating that the trial period will be prolonged again. This time, though, there's no actual time limit to it.
In the e-mail, Square offer their "sincerest of apologies" because the game "has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that Final Fantasy fans have come to expect from the franchise". The company goes on to say that 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." Until the new team comes up with a concrete plan how to make the game more enjoyable, the trial period will be extended. The Playstation 3 version of the game has also been delayed from its original release date of March 2011.
The new people involved are
Producer/Director
Naoki Yoshida
Section Leader Changes
Assistant Director
Shintaro Tamai (Final Fantasy X, Front Mission 5: Scars of the War)
Lead Game Designer
Nobuaki Komoto (Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XI)
Lead Combat System Designer
Akihiko Matsui (Final Fantasy XI)
Technical Advisor
Yoshihisa Hashimoto (Next Generation Game Engine Development)
Lead Programmer
Hideyuki Kasuga (Final Fantasy XI, Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-)
Senior Concept Artist
Akihiko Yoshida (Final Fantasy XII, Vagrant Story)
Lead Artist
Hiroshi Takai (Final Fantasy XI, The Last Remnant)
Lead UI Designer/Lead Web Designer
Hiroshi Minagawa (Final Fantasy XII, Vagrant Story)
While it's always sad to see people lose their jobs, and there's probably been a few people that has had to go following this restructuring while taking responsibility for things that have gone wrong during development, it's also refreshing to see a MMO company being so honest with their customers. Hopefully the new team will be able to make the changes needed to the game.