Square Enix To Begin Charging For Final Fantasy XIV Next Month

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If you’re a Final Fantasy XIV player, your free ride is about to come to an end. For those who haven’t been following Final Fantasy XIV, here’s a little back story: Final Fantasy XIV was launched just over a year ago, and when it arrived in the hands of consumers, it was a broken mess. It still is, as a matter of fact.

Because of this, Square Enix waived the subscription fee for those who decided to stick with the game. For the past year, people have been playing Final Fantasy XIV for free, but that’s all about to change, with Square Enix announcing plans to roll out Final Fantasy XIV version 2.0 over the next year.

So, Final Fantasy XIV is still a long way from being fixed, but while Square Enix releases the absolutely massive update in installments, it will reinstate the subscription ree. Of course, some players will probably take issue with paying to play a game that’s still broken in so many ways, which is why Square Enix has discounted the subscription fee until release of update 2.0 is complete.

Starting January 6th, you’ll be required to shell out $6.99 per month in order to continue playing Final Fantasy XIV. Multiple month subscriptions have also seen a pretty hefty discount as well, with a 90 day subscription coming it at $17.97 and a 180 day subscription sporting a price tag of $29.94. Once everything in version 2.0 has gone live, the subscription price will jump to $9.99 a month.

Call me crazy, but I can’t imagine that too many people will want to pay to play Final Fantasy XIV when Square Enix says that it won’t be finished releasing version 2.0 until the end of 2012. I realize that letting gamers play Final Fantasy XIV for free only hurts Square Enix’s pocketbook, but it seems like it would have been a better idea for Square Enix to just cut its losses and take Final Fantasy XIV offline.

It may sound harsh, but Final Fantasy XIV will have been a mediocre game for the better part of 2 years by the time version 2.0 is fully released, and I don’t think Square Enix can compete in the absurdly overcrowded MMO market will a failure like that attached to Final Fantasy XIV.

What do you think? Should Square Enix continue to try and fix Final Fantasy XIV, or do you think the publisher should just call it quits and put that manpower into another project? Will you continue playing Final Fantasy XIV once the subscription fee kicks in at the beginning of next month? Head down to the comments section and share your thoughts!