During a recent hands-on preview event for the upcoming Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker expansion, director Naoki Yoshida revealed that Square Enix's popular MMORPG recently has surpassed 24 million players. Furthermore, it is the most profitable Final Fantasy game in the series.
Speaking to the press in a digital preview event, Yoshida revealed that the player count has hit 24 million players 11 years after Final Fantasy 14 was first released. In a chart Yoshida shared with the press, Final Fantasy 14's player count back in 2015 was 4 million registered players. That number hit 10 million by the time the third expansion, Stormblood, was released in 2017, before doubling in the next four years.
"You all know just how hard things were for us with the original Final Fantasy 14," Yoshida says referencing the MMORPGs infamous launch. "Since then, we were able to transform the title into one that provides a major contribution to our company's profits."
Indeed, Yoshida says Final Fantasy 14 is the most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series. "It's perhaps unbecoming of me to say but in terms of our business, we've been able to achieve great success. Moving forward, we're going to spare no expense with our investments to ensure that this game continues to be one which our players can enjoy."
Final Fantasy 14's continued success is one of the highlights in the MMORPG space and a true comeback story. Especially after the version of the game that was released in 2010 was critically panned. But this year alone, the word-of-mouth buzz for Final Fantasy 14 has seemingly taken the game into the mainstream.
And just because the upcoming expansion is set to conclude a major storyline doesn't mean Final Fantasy 14 is over. During the presentation, Yoshida spoke about the next ten years and thanked the player-base for sticking with the game.
Check out IGN's full hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker to learn more about the new classes and areas coming to the MMO with the expansion.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.