The latest expansion Stormblood has raised Final Fantasy XIV to over 10 million players. Critics love Stormblood. The subscription numbers are growing. But there’s a catch.
According to a press release, Final Fantasy XIV now has more than 10 million players worldwide on PS4 and PC. The expansion Stormblood has contributed to increasing the user base worldwide. However, the main reason for the success of Final Fantasy XIV is that the title is so robust and stable, being constantly fed with new content.
The number is not as impressive when you read the fine print: For these 10 million also includes the “Free Trials”, i.e., the free trial accounts. Furthermore, the 10 million is the “cumulative player count”, which is the number of all who have ever created an account for Final Fantasy XIV.
The 10 million players do not represent the number of players who are actually active and paying for it. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive number.
We have dealt with the tricks that MMOs use to inflate their player counts: Player numbers in MMOs: Questioned, beautified, silenced
We have even more impressive numbers for Stormblood.
Stormblood – the Critic’s Favorite
Stormblood is on its way to becoming the critic’s favorite of the year. On Metacritic, the PS4 version of Stormblood has 89%.
The PC version of Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood stands at 87%. For comparison:
- The Morrowind expansion of ESO has 78% (PC)
- The “Heart of Thorns” expansion for Guild Wars 2 stands at 81%.
- World of Warcraft: Legion scores 88%, one point better than the PC version of Stormblood.
- Even the last FF14 expansion Heavensward was highly rated by critics: it received 86% back then.
Praise in the Financial Report
Stormblood also receives praise in Square Enix’s financial report. Revenues in the MMO sector skyrocketed from 5.9 billion yen (about 45 million €) to 9.3 billion yen (about 71 million euros). This, according to Square Enix, is due to the sales of Stormblood and an increasing number of subscribers.
In addition to Final Fantasy, Square Enix counts the “Dragon Quest” game series among its MMOs. In Japan, these are bestsellers.
With Stormblood, Jumping Potions were introduced. With these, players can buy their way into the endgame. How that turns out, you can read here:
FF XIV: Jump Potion Test – Noob boosts to 60 and after Stormblood
