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Final Fantasy XIV To Take Down WoW?



Not every massively multiplayer online title needs to achieve the runaway success of World of Warcraft. Many studios would be overjoyed to create a game that drew in a solid 200,000 subscribers – but not Square Enix.

In this recent interview with Develop, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada said that the company is positioning its upcoming Final Fantasy XIV as a serious rival to Blizzard's juggernaut. "But the flipside is that they are a tough competition," Wada commented.

Square Enix is banking on the fact that eventually Blizzard will need to make a sequel to World of Warcraft – and the history books show that the transition from one iteration to the next leaves an opening for another game to take the crown. "WoW is a tough competitor," admits Wada, "But whether you are talking about EverQuest, Ultima or Lineage there has never been a company that has a continuously successful number one and two MMO.”

Of course, this logic is based on the conclusion that WoW will, in fact, need a sequel. Given the success of the game's expansion packs thus far, we wouldn't be surprised to see Blizzard continue to build on the same universe rather than branch out into a brand new title.

Does that mean that WoW is unbeatable? Do you think we'll ever see another competitor become the king of the MMO genre? Let us know in the comments below.

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Comments
  • FIRST

  • okay........sorry but i dont really care. Square Enix could do a good job of it i guess....im just tired of hearing about wow

  • I honestly think that a new MMO that is better than WoW is always welcome...

  • I've been waiting for this for ps3 for 4 reasons

    1.) I Love Final Fantasy

    2) This will take away my MMO Virginity

    3) I don't have a good enough PC for WOW

    4)They took away the leveling down problem from 11 (that's y I didn't play that 1)

  • Ok Blizzard. Now that Square is using fighting words, give us World of Starcraft. Yes...that would be sweet.

  • it would be nice to see FF14 overtake WoW. im tired of hearing about WoW. after i heard that someone actually finished the game, its lost some of its magic. lol

  • The only MMO so far that has even made me think I might set WoW down has been The Old Republic. If that delivers everything I hope for when it drops, I may just have to set WoW aside for a while.

    That said, Dragon Age, which isn't an MMO or even online, has already pulled me away from WoW for almost two months (two months that I continued to pay Blizzard for, because I never expected DA:O to be so engaging I'd want to do a second play through immediately after finishing my first).

    If its good... I just might play it in conjunction with WoW. But for now I'm still way too invested in my WoW characters and interested in the future story lines planned for Cataclysm.

  • honestly don't think FFXIV has what it takes to take down the WOW machine... I think that SWTOR has the best chance... but still a little early to tell really

  • I really enjoyed the time I played WoW, but like any game it got old after a while.  I'd definitely be into a console MMO with a similar level of quality.

  • I enjoyed playing WoW for a good couple years, but eventually it just got really old and boring so I quit.

    I'm always welcome to see any new MMO like this tho.

  • Considering Blizzard is working on a next gen mmo, they will be making some new mmo game in some context. As soon as I hear the words "we're going to beat WoW" from a developers mouth though, I lose interest. It means they are shooting to compare to WoW. I am tired of WoW. I do not enjoy it. I want a different game that cannot be compared.

  • I hope it beats them.. I'm kind of sick of WoW. -_-

  • I've been looking forward to this. I've never played an online (but Sims. . like that counts) and I've always wanted to play an RPG-type game with my friends.

    I'll be getting the PS3 version because I hate playing games on my laptop. :/ But I can't wait. I just hope it doesn't own my soul like WoW had done for so many of my late friends.

  • I didn't really like the way Final Fantasy XI was setup...give me a free trial and then I will see...

  • Hmm... big bird for the win, yes?

  • i think that story wise FF is better than WoW.. content wise though... what FF is going to have to win in is.. great maps, great interface, and a great fanbase

  • A rather bold statement from Wada, let's hope they have the game to back it up.  Final Fantasy XI was good, but a little too hardcore and unforgiving.  I think if they do things right this time they will have a winner.  Perhaps even a top contender.  But let's let the game speak for itself shall we?

  • I loved FFXI online.  With the improvements they are supposed to be making for this title, I'm very excited to get my hands on a copy.  Whether it will overtake WoW or not idk.  When I played FFXI, everyone in-game always bad-mouthed WoW so it seems the two games may just appeal to different gamers tastes.  Diehard WoW fans will probably stick with WoW and FF fans will take up FFXIV in my opinion.

  • If the next gen MMO actually has character races other than the dirty 7 (human, elf, orc, dwarf, etc), then it's for me. Alas, Final Fantasy can't do that (to my knowledge) without a completely different deviation from the typical FF RPG. If it's a fantasy MMO, bring in REALLY fantastic PC characters, like centaur and naga. Make use of the 3D, and it's a winner for me.

  • WoW is unbeatable.... Unless Square makes a KH MMO.............(PLS?)

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