Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida has revealed that there are no plans at Square Enix to convert the subscription-based MMORPG into a free-to-play game. Speaking to Eurogamer, Yoshida said that, while the game’s free trial will be expanded over time, the company doesn’t want to make the game free-to-play at the moment.
“I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded, but we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment,” said Yoshida in response to a question about the game’s generous free trial eventually expanding to encompass current content. “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.”
Yoshida goes on to talk about the last ten years of working on Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, which was released all the way back in 2013. Since its release, the game has seen four expansions, with the fifth one—Dawntrail—being slated for Summer 2024 release.
When asked whether the studio plans to leave Final Fantasy 14 to start focusing on a new game, Yoshida responded by saying that there are no current plans to leave the world of Eorzea. This might change some day down the line if the is hit with some kind of inspiration.
“We don’t have plans to move on to a new game as that would be something even more difficult than having the realm be ‘reborn’,” said Yoshida. “That might change if I am hit with some kind of inspiration though.”
Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail was announced in July with a trailer during the most recent iteration of its annual Final Fantasy FanFest. The expansion seems to be themed after providing the protagonist—the Warrior of Light—with a vacation after the harrowing events of the last few expansions.
The game’s free trial has also been expanded quite a bit. When the free trial was first introduced in 2020, players could play Final Fantasy 14 up to the end of the Heavensward expansion. Back in July, Square Enix announced that the free trial is now being expanded to also include the Stormblood expansion, leading up to right before the events of the critically-acclaimed Shadowbringers expansion kicks off.