Final Fantasy 14 failure repeat could 'destroy' Square Enix - director

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn director Noaki Yoshida has said Square Enix will never make another mistake of the immensity of the MMORPG's failed launch.

Speaking to Kotaku, Yoshida was frank about how awful Final Fantasy 14 Online's initial launch was.

"We won't make a mistake like FF14 again - if we did, it would be like at the level of destroying the company," he said.

According to Yoshida, even many Square Enix staff were concerned and appalled by the publisher's decision to release the MMORPG in such bad shape.

"When I heard that it was going to go on sale as planned, I thought, that will probably be a big mistake," he said.

This proved correct, with the game eventually going entirely free while the publisher scrambled to fix some of its more glaring issues, and eventually choosing to completely relaunch with a new client. This is the project Yoshida is heading up, A Realm Reborn, and is currently in closed alpha testing, with launch expected next year at the earliest.

The director also said some of Final Fantasy 14's problems stemmed from its design approach. Previous MMO Final Fantasy 11 - the most profitable game the franchise has produced - was designed to be like Everquest, but Final Fantasy 14 was built to be different from Final Fantasy 11 rather than like a competitor. Yoshida's comments are well worth a read; hit the link above for more.