Yesterday, Sony dropped a mega-deuce when the company revealed the first trailer of Final Fantasy XIV. This news shocked everyone as there was no clue or rumor of the game before yesterday. Since Final Fantasy XIV will be a MMO, many have started to question if there will be a subscription fee. However, according to sources the game will use a free-to-play model.

The announcement of Final Fantasy XIV hit the audience like a ton of bricks as this might have been the best kept E3 secret. The audience was shocked again when Sony’s Jack Tretton announced that Final Fantasy XIV will be PS3 exclusive on consoles.

Despite being a MMO, according to Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIV will play like a regular Final Fantasy game. During the Square Enix press conference, a designer for the game indicated that the game was first crafted with it being a single player experience in mind but expanded into a MMO. Unlike traditional MMOs, gamers will be able to have a full satisfying experience playing the game solo or with a party. There will also be a huge focus on story and character development.

I talked a little about the subscription model for the game yesterday, but today I received word from a source that a Square Enix rep at the booth have indicated that Final Fantasy Fantasy XIV will use a Free-to-Play (F2P) model, which has been gaining popularity recently. There are no details yet, but apparently Sony and Square Enix is currently in discussion regarding the subscription model.

Currently, Sony has revealed that SOE will utilize a similar Free-to-Play model for new MMOs in development for the PS3. I suspect that this is the model Sony has pitched to Square Enix. Since the PS3 is fully capable of acting like server, Sony has been throwing up PS3s onto racks to act as dedicated servers for other games, so this arrangement with Square Enix sounds plausible.

Also, according to my source, Final Fantasy XIV will require at least 5GB of mandatory harddrive space, which to be frank sounds a bit too small for a next gen MMO (I’m thinking more like 10GB). During the press conference Square Enix also confirmed that there will indeed be a beta for the game, which is fantastic news. Gamers can expect a worldwide simultaneous release of Final Fantasy XIV in 2010 for the PS3 and PC.

This is good news.

Free to play on PS3? aw fuck yeah! that takes care of a big obstacle for me.

Only thing wrong with free MMO's is less support.

SE will give enough, they're a pretty big company.

Yea, probably.  But it would seem like they would have alot less pressure to update things and also put out new content.  With it being free you really can't complain about anything except the initial price tag.

Does not F2P MMOs mean that they make their money on micro-transactions?
(i.e., for upgrades above a certain level, clothes, weapons, etc.).

Mike from Morgantown

Free to play = This will be as big as WoW.

@Carl2291

I think it might only be free to play on ps3 and not on PC.

Could be.  You buy the game and can play anything from the start.  All new updates and content will be charged for.  Just a thought.

It's usually extra clothes or customization to your character that does not directly effect your experience.