A few years ago, Final Fantasy XIV was branded a complete failure, believed irrecoverable by most. Fast Forward to today and the game has come a long, long way.
Lately, we have seen how Square Enix is pulling all the stops to promote the next expansion Shadowbringers. An actual film just premiered in Japan and the west got a trailer with Spider-Man and Avengers star Tom Holland and his buddy Hannibal Buress. Just a couple of days ago, the house of Final Fantasy threw anime into the mix. Yet, they weren’t done just yet.
They got themselves some of the most expensive billboard real estate in the world and plastered the entrance of Times Square in New York City with giant billboards. If you want to see them for yourself, you just need to go to the crossing between 7th and 42nd Street.
Below you can see a few pictures courtesy of Twitter user Puchan, and Instagram users animenyc and thetravelal. If you want to see even more, you can also check out a video by Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Facebook group user Mercedes Rodriguez [Editor’s note: you’ll have to click on the link to see this one, as it cannot be embedded].
ねぇ、これ見て。
世界が見てる！！
(NYのタイムズスクエアにも大きい看板あったよ✨)
楽しみだね(*⊃ω⊂*)#FF14 pic.twitter.com/xH33CA7wOY— ℙ𝕌ℂℍ𝔸ℕღ¸.✻´`✻.¸¸ღ (@puchan0331) June 20, 2019
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Considering how much Square Enix is investing in promoting Shadowbringers, you gotta wonder just how profitable Final Fantasy XIV is. The game has been mentioned as a positive revenue factor in the company’s financial results for years. We also recently learned that it passed 16 million registered users, and the game is at its peak in terms of paying subscribers as well, just before a major expansion.
In MMORPGs, peak subscribers are normally reached after an expansion hits, not before, and this is an indication that the game is enjoying a new golden age. This shouldn’t be surprising considering that even old dear Final Fantasy XI was mentioned as the most profitable Final Fantasy game when its subscribers were already declining.
Considering how the original Final Fantasy XIV crashed and burned at launch, and the journey from death to rebirth with Naoki Yoshida at the helm, we can definitely mark this as one of the most stunning success stories in the MMORPG market, fueled by samurai-like determination and what could appear almost a miracle.
Doing right by the customer may not have been the only objective behind the creation of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (restoring the value of a precious brand certainly provided its fair share of motivation), but this game certainly proves that it can lead to very profitable results.
[Thanks for the tip: Matsuridream]
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