Starting January 6 Square Enix will begin charging subscribers who are still playing Final Fantasy XIV online. The Final Fantasy-based MMO has been free for almost a year because of a myriad of technical problems that the company couldn't initially overcome. The MMO was so bad that it made Square Enix reevaluate how it handles developing and lunching MMO's.
Square has discounted the proposed monthly fee from $12.99 to $9.99 as an olive branch to customers who remained loyal during the last year. The original subscription fee structure costs $3.00 a month for a single character, and varying time blocks of 30, 90, and 180 days for $9.99, $8.99, and $7.99 respectively. The new discounted rate puts the monthly fee down to $6.99, $5.99, and $4.99 respectively.
Players who subscribe to both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV will receive a discount on their Final Fantasy XI fee, the ability to transfer one character name from XI to XIV, and some in-game shoes - oddly enough.
Source: IndustryGamers
Comments
Re: Final Fantasy XIV Fees Begin January 6
I've been following the progress of FFXIV since it's early alpha testing phase, and they should have kept the model they used then.
But since launch, I've watched it change and evolve into almost an entirely new game. Too bad the instructions packaged in the game are all but useless now, but hey. That's what tutorials are for.
I kinda liked how they ended up making it similar to FFXI, while making it an entirely new game at the same time. It really is amazing how far the game has come, and I can't wait to play it on PS3 so I can stop abusing my PC by running it.
Atlanta Video Games Examiner for examiner.com