To say things in the Final Fantasy XIV camp could be going a little bit better is like saying Final Fantasy VII villain Sephiroth has only a passing interest in plunging swords through people’s chests. The PC version, which launched to less than favourable reviews, has since had its trial period extended in the hope of enticing players to ultimately sign up. As for the already delayed PS3 version, there’s more bad news, as the game’s now void release date of “March 2011” has been once again pushed further into a unspecific time period.
In true Japanese tradition, Square Enix’s Hiromichi Tanaka has chosen the sword and stepped down as producer of the troubled title. A statement from President Yoichi Wada apologises to the series’ fans who expected more from the title:
“While more than two months have passed since the official launch of Final Fantasy XIV service, we deeply regret that the game has yet to achieve the level of enjoyability that Final Fantasy fans have come to expect from the franchise, and for this we offer our sincerest of apologies.
“After thorough deliberation on how to meet those expectations, it was decided that the most viable step was to approach improvements under new leadership and with a restructured team.
“To realise this vision, and in doing so, provide our customers with a better game experience, we have assembled our company’s top talent and resources. Taking over the role of producer and director is Naoki Yoshida, a passionate individual for whom customer satisfaction has always taken top priority.
Regarding the PlayStation 3, it is not our wish to release a simple conversion of the Windows version in its current state, but rather an update that includes all the improvements we have planned. For that reason, we have made the difficult decision to delay the release of the PlayStation 3 version beyond the originally announced date of March 2011.”
Tanaka-san isn’t shying away from his responsibility, however, stating:
“First of all, I would like to apologise for our inability to fully satisfy our users with the initial release of Final Fantasy XIV. I take full responsibility for the game’s current situation, and have therefore made the decision to step down from my role as producer.
Though no longer producer, I will be continuing to support the development team in other capacities, and personally hope that you will continue your adventures in the realm of Eorzea.”
The game will be produced by Naoki Yoshida going forward. Yoshida-san was the Director of Cross-Edge and worked as an Assistant Director on Record of Agarest War.
Source: Press release
gordon_strange
It’s hard for me to admit, but after the last game, I’ve pretty much lost faith in this franchise. Such a shame as it ff used to be the only other reason for buying a playstation for me (the other being Mgs)
RadicalMave07
all previous games were awesome,from 1-12,i think that they are allowed to make a mistake once in a while,if they do you shouldn’t be so eager to lose your faith in a company that have given you so much.they will learn from their mistakes and rise once again,much like a phoENIX.
a inferior race
I disagree I-X were excellent, all spin-off bar Dissida and tactics have been generally poor. The series is losing its way and has been milked for all it’s worth.
Roynaldo
FFXIII wasnt a terrible game at all, just not in the same league as previous titles in the franchise. I still sunk 108 hours into it and enjoyed most of it.
It had a few let downs, like the one character death= game over and the amazingly little amount of side quests. Graphically outstanding and the story was great.
Can see why the fans wernt happy but it was not bad by the definition of the word.
rainydays458
Fans of the series were unhappy because because we’re all used to being able to (once we get to the point) explore the world map at our leisure, and even though the levels were all very nice looking, I felt confined just running down a series of long long coridors.
Roynaldo
Yeah, totally get that. Takes 30 hours to get your world to explore which needed to be unlocked in segments.
As i touched on though, I believe it to be a good game, just not what made us FF fans love FF in the first place.
gordon_strange
Please excuse the above. iPhone grammar isn’t the easiest to read…
kjkg
This is a big disappointment. Been very much looking forward to this, but I’m starting to think it might never see the light of day on PS3. Hope I’m wrong but I have a feeling that this could be getting discussed as an option.
FoxHoundGabe
Just let it die, and focus on making “Versus” better than FFXIII.
picld
Squenixz management should go self-flagellate for wasting an opportunity to release what could’ve been a potentially awesome cross-platform MMO in my beloved FF universe.
Yahavage
I’m still hoping the game is going to improve… and well they’ve extended the free trial which is fantastic new, but I’m just not playing it. It’s boring. Which is pretty devestating – it has soooo much potential. Oh well – I’m still going to wait and see how it pans out. They did MASSIVELY improve the UI in the last update. Too bad a nice UI isn’t really enough to make you want to play^^;
YOURMUMANDME
I really think they should plug the console version, it’s the first mmorpg for the Ps3, let people know Square !
KeRaSh
The UI was significantly improved in the last update. This was a core problem for many players. Content will follow, people just have to be patient. FFXI suffered the same problems but back then it was JP only and we never really experienced the rough period. Some very talented people from FFXI stepped up and I’m confident, that the game will step up to it’s potential soon enough. MMOs have crappy starts. People need to realize that. Even WoW’s Cataclysm launch was ridden with problems and that game has been out for years. I’m not worried. I had tons of fun with some friends in Eorzea so far and I only paied for the game itself.
Charmed_Fanatic
Delayed …. worse game word ever
jayjay119
I find ‘on-hold’ a lot worse, it’s essentially an ‘it’s never gonna come but we aren’t gonna tell you that yet’ Getaway PS3 and Shenmue 3 are examples of this.
Kovacs
Pretty sure “cancelled” is worse.
;)
jayjay119
No, that’s the thing at leas with ‘cancelled’ you know for sure it’s never coming, when a series is put ‘on hold’ it may as well be cancelled but there is always that little glimmar of irritating hope that never goes away.
Charmed_Fanatic
Yeah, cancelled is its not coming, delayed/on-hold = its coming, but you cant play it yet
Kovacs
“On Hold” usually means “It’s cancelled, we just don’t want to tell you it’s cancelled!”
;)
hazelam
and that’s why “on hold” is worse.
jayjay119
I don’t play FF so my opinion of the subject may be void, but, if the PC version was released to less than favourable reviews then maybe pushing the PS3 version back and assigning it a new producer means an overhaul of the game to make it a hell of a lot better than the PC version. Which could justify the delay. And lest’s face it, immense delays have become commonplace this generation. Tekken 6, GT5, FF14