Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: 1.5 Million Registrations Strong

SBFord

Square Enix is reporting that over 1.5 million players have registered to play Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. This number does not reflect subscriptions, but is a strong indicator of the game's success as compared to the first time 'round.

The combined total is across North America, Europe, Japan and PAL territories on both the Windows® PC and PlayStation® 3 entertainment systems.  In related news, Square Enix also recently announced that the beta program for the next generation PlayStation 4 system will commence on February 22, 2014. 



Furthermore, the first content update (Patch 2.1) is scheduled for release later this December, which will include key features, including Player vs. Player (PvP) battle arena, new dungeons, player housing and more.



Finally, players can now also transfer their characters to another world via the World Transfer Service, which is available starting this week.  Details are available here.

Find out more about Final Fantaxy XIV.

TheDarkrayne

Low for a massive IP.

rojoArcueid

1.5 should have been on PC only. Being multiplatform sharing the same servers should have boosted the amount of people registered and playing. I think the subscription was the problem, at least with the console players. And of course, the amount of bang (content) for your buck.

My opinion of course.

bbuudd

Either way, good games will get players with/without subs or pay2play. We all will play a game if we like it. either f2p or p2p if you love the game you will play it. companies brag and boast about their numbers. but that doesn't change the fact on if its a good game or not, the player will decide for themselves.

IMHO

EvilGeek

 

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Originally posted by Yaevindusk

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Originally posted by TalulaRose [mod edit]

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[mod edit]

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That really did make me laugh out loud

On Topic:

Good news, as a fan of the game, thoroughly enjoying it, I hope that means some meaningful longevity with good patches for the future.

Samhael

1.5 registrations? Meaningless. Give us an active count and that would actually mean something. I saw a slew of people come and go.

Calerxes

Originally posted by Samhael
1.5 registrations? Meaningless. Give us an active count and that would actually mean something. I saw a slew of people come and go.

 

Though not quite meaningless as if they had decent uptake on purchases and subs they would have used that number not the PR registration divert tactic. I'm registered as a FFXIV 1.0 player but only played some of the 2.0 beta but nothing since release as my 14 days free was at release and I don't play MMO's at release for obvious reasons. I'm a little pissed that I couldn't use the 14 days at anytime seeing as they had massive problems at launch which drove home for me why I stopped playing MMO's at launch. But hey ho I'll just wait for the inevitable f2p/freemium transition which for me is assured after this little PR stunt. 

Aldous.Huxley

I know multiple people who are waiting to purchase it when the PS4 comes out, so I imagine they'll be gettimg a bit of a bump next month.

ZizouX

YoshiP said that they only need 400k subscribers for this game to be around for 10 years.

 

They have that much in Japan alone.

 

You don't need WoW like numbers to be a success.  No game will ever have that much again.  What matters is, is the game turning a profit and allowing you to provide a steady stream of content.   With those considerations in mind,  FFXIV is on the right track, and given the failure of 1.0, 2.0/ARR is a resounding success.

 

If you are being objective, there's no way you can deny that.

 

Fenrisl1234

Only 1.5M ??????

 

Runescape is at 200M REGISTERED player....for a multiplatform game I'm dissapointed

 

derek39

its a great game.. im going to sub again sometime. but theres just so much going on in video games right now i dont feel like i need a sub right now lol

NobleNerd

I enjoyed my time in Eorzea up until I was hacked. The nonexistent response of SE after using all the right channels to submit my report was disappointing. At this point I wouldn't even call it a bad customer service experience... instead there was no customer experience at all!! After this I chose to not sub. any longer.

rojoArcueid

Originally posted by ZizouX

YoshiP said that they only need 400k subscribers for this game to be around for 10 years.

 

isnt that funny when Square Enix considered Tomb Raider a major failure for selling 5+ million copies and now they only need 400k people playing their mmo to be a success.

KhinRunite

Not to speak against the game's fun value, but I have to wonder. Did they set a low bar for this game? Sleeping Dogs made as much as this and it was considered a failure. Same with Hitman and Tomb Raider, which sold more.

Ender4

So basically it got the must buy every MMORPG crowd and nothing else. Probably be free to play in under a year.

Ryowulf

It was/is $30 and it was free for people who bought the first version.  The question is how many of those 1.5 resubbed? How many 4-6 months from now.  

AIMonster

Originally posted by KhinRunite

Not to speak against the game's fun value, but I have to wonder. Did they set a low bar for this game? Sleeping Dogs made as much as this and it was considered a failure. Same with Hitman and Tomb Raider, which sold more.

Not defending the numbers, but I think they set a more realistic goal with this game.  The fact Tomb Raider remained a best seller for quite a while after release and was still deemed a failure by Square Enix means their budget was poorly managed and their expectations were unrealistic.

Back on topic, this number doesn't seem to impressive to me, nor does it really give us any indication of how well the game is doing.  I believe GW2 had this number (maybe more) of registrations just for the beta, and the game has sold over 3.5 million copies and had 400k concurrent users at one point.  I think within the first 2 weeks it had over 2 million copies sold.  Just for comparison sakes.

The game is by no means doing poorly though.  It's definitely sustaining itself right now.  My opinion of the game is pretty much across the board negative, but definitely need to give them that at least.

tommygunzII

As reported last week, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has over 1.5 million registered players worldwide, but naturally this doesn’t mean that all 1.5 million players are actively playing the game. Yoshida provides a little more insight.

“As FFXIV: ARR is a subscription based business model, naturally there will be players who will not play anymore once they finish the main scenario,” he concedes. However, he continues, “MMORPGs that launched after 2008 with a subscription based model retained a maximum of 35% of their users during the first month of subscriptions. However, FFXIV: ARR has surpassed this number by a wide margin.”

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/113554

daltanious

Originally posted by Samhael
1.5 registrations? Meaningless. Give us an active count and that would actually mean something. I saw a slew of people come and go.

... like me. :-)

 

I'm happy for those that enjoy ARR, but I'm not among them. There are so many thing that disappointed me that no patch can handle.

Paragus1

Why would you tout a number that has no real meaning?   That's like when some MMOs brag about forum accounts or other such nonsense.   There is probably a reason they don't talk about the only number that really counts.

Calerxes

Originally posted by Paragus1
Why would you tout a number that has no real meaning?   That's like when some MMOs brag about forum accounts or other such nonsense.   There is probably a reason they don't talk about the only number that really counts.

 

That's the real rub, for one of the biggest IP's in RPG land and was released on PS3 this is a truly dismal showing even if it was active players. GW2 a no name IP to anyone outside of MMO land got 3.5 million sales. Warhammer sold in excess of 1 million and that was a clusterfuck of a release and how many of these "registrations" are like me from version 1.0?

Swids2010

Im enjoying the game at the moment but it doesn't feel like something ill still be playing into next year. But i remember seeing a interview with the lead and he was saying they will run happy on about 40k subscriptions so even if only a fraction carry on playing i think they will be quite happy.

ZizouX

Some of you are failing to see the forest through the trees.

 

Compare this game to other subsription based games to determine if it's a successful mmo.  All the F2P games with 2+ million users doesn't mean anything.  It's how much money a game brings in.

Let's say there are 500k players paying for FFXIV right now ( i think it's closer to 750k but i'll assume the lower number).  Look at the post above where Yoshi said they retained MORE than the industry average of players passed the first month.  

500,000 players x $12.00 / month = $6 million a month x 12 months = $72 million a year.

This is GUARANTEED income.  If 10 million play GW2 but no one is buying anything from the cash shop (just like I didn't buy anything in the cash shop for 4 months), then financially speaking, FFXIV is doing very well.

 

 

Yup, this game is failing alright.  

Theocritus

Registered not subs...Number of people who register means absolutely nothing.....Theres tons of obscure browser games that get more than 1.5 mil registrations.

Theocritus

Originally posted by ZizouX

Some of you are failing to see the forest through the trees.

 

Compare this game to other subsription based games to determine if it's a successful mmo.  All the F2P games with 2+ million users doesn't mean anything.  It's how much money a game brings in.

Let's say there are 500k players paying for FFXIV right now ( i think it's closer to 750k but i'll assume the lower number).  Look at the post above where Yoshi said they retained MORE than the industry average of players passed the first month.  

500,000 players x $12.00 / month = $6 million a month x 12 months = $72 million a year.

This is GUARANTEED income.  If 10 million play GW2 but no one is buying anything from the cash shop (just like I didn't buy anything in the cash shop for 4 months), then financially speaking, FFXIV is doing very well.

 

 

Yup, this game is failing alright.  

 So you are guaranteeing that these 500k that are playing past the first month will pay for a full year and guarantee FFXIV  72 million? Nothing in life is guaranteed.....I doubt 10 percent of those are playing after a year.....

Kyleran

Originally posted by Paragus1
Why would you tout a number that has no real meaning?   That's like when some MMOs brag about forum accounts or other such nonsense.   There is probably a reason they don't talk about the only number that really counts.

Yes, I was wondering why they are touting the term "registrations" instead of sales or subscriptions.  I know F2P games tend to use this metric a lot (40M registered) but can't see why the term carried over to this title.

No matter how you look at it, lots of people are playing and enjoying this game right now, even if it isn't the WOW killer so many people think each new title should be.