Though the population of Final Fantasy 14 had been steadily growing over the years since A Realm Reborn, there has never been such a massive jump in monthly subscribers as the one it experienced last summer, and Square Enix reports that this growth is still ongoing. In order to examine the circumstances of this sudden surge in players, one needs to look beyond the success of Shadowbringers, and also consider the failings of Shadowlands, the eighth expansion pack for World of Warcraft.
The exodus of World of Warcraft players and content creators such as Asmongold to Final Fantasy 14 came around the release of Patch 9.1 for Shadowlands. In addition to Activision Blizzard being buried in controversies at the time, the opening patch of Shadowlands lasted several months longer than expected, and its content was beginning to feel stale. Patch 9.1 launched in June, eight months after the release of Shadowlands, and the content it introduced left a lot to be desired. Between Korthia's tedious content loop, the direction of the story with the Jailer and Sylvanas, it just wasn't enough for most players to justify their subscriptions, so they flocked to Eorzea to see what it had to offer.
Today, nearly a year and a half later, Square Enix reports in its quarterly financial results that despite an overall lower performance across the board, the company's MMO division is thriving with Final Fantasy 14's subscriber count still on the rise. The report covers a period from April 2022 to September 2022, and claims that digital sales for Square Enix brought in 108.8 billion yen – around $743 million USD – with Final Fantasy 14's population now amounting to nearly 28 million registered players.
The enduring growth of monthly subscribers in Final Fantasy 14 can not only be attributed to that initial World of Warcraft exodus, but also to the perfect timing of Endwalker's release coming merely months after the population boom. Shadowbringers got people playing, but Endwalker got them hooked, as off the heels of a truly excellent expansion pack came the release of another one, and the game's steady pace of content patches keeps the fires of Endwalker's hype burning hot.
It remains to be seen how much Final Fantasy 14's population will be impacted with the release of World of Warcraft's next expansion, Dragonflight, and it's doubtful that that game won't bring back some of its players. On the other hand, Endwalker is preparing to launch Patch 6.3 in late December or early January, and if speculation is to be believed, the expansion after Endwalker is coming in the first half of 2024.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: Gamebiz