Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has high hopes for Final Fantasy XIV, believing it has a good chance of taking on Blizzard's unstoppable World of Warcraft and snatching a sizable chunk of the vulture-ridden MMO market.
Wada states that Final Fantasy XIV will rival WoW because it's a sequel, and nobody has ever had a successful MMO and a successful sequel to that MMO: "WoW is a tough competitor, 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."
He also unequivocally said "yes" to Develop when asked if he believes that Final Fantasy XIV could pull WoW from its throne, although he added that that it would be "tough" to do so.
Wada's logic seems a bit kooky to me. Surely most MMOs don't have a sequel because they don't need a sequel. MMOs don't work the same way as other games, and this is why World of Warcraft has never needed a World of Warcraft 2. If anything, a sequel is evidence of failure in the MMO market, since your first game obviously didn't do a good enough job if you need to make a new one.
It seems that Squenix may not be understanding how MMOs work ... but a little thing like "not having an effing clue" has never stopped publishers before, right?
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Contest:
8:40 AM on 12.17.2009
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MMOs don't need sequels. Sequels are bad for MMOs. Is that so complex an idea?
He must have a different perspective of successful than then rest of the modern world does. Sony: Everquest, 10 years running.. EQ2 just hit the 5 year and still going strong. How can he not see that as success?
i want somthing different and something that will hold me and others.
1- Chances are it will be released quite before FF14
2- It's actually trying to do something different, that is focusing on the scenario (better than "X has been corrupted by evil Y"), the dialogues (better than "Kill 10 boars kk? thx."), the sidekicks (the Dragon Age-y concept of having a NPC with a personality and dialogues hang out with you). Because of these, I'm thinking ToR has the potential to offer a better solo experience, at least for Bioware nuts like me.
I'm not looking for a WoW killer, because I'm tired of WoW and quite some time ago. I don't want that same old shit again. I don't want to choose between a tank/heal/DPS role and then grind through quests for 80 levels to be told that I can't join a group because I haven't that dungeon achievement yet (vicious circle, here we go). I want to actually care about the setting I'll play through, I want the road to be fun, not just the destination. WoW stopped giving that to me long ago...
Also, it can only compete if it can run on a 6 year old laptop like WoW does.
This isn't going to go well, as I believe history shows there are more people still playing the original Everquest than there are playing Everquest 2. You don't split your user base or ask people to part with characters they've dumped weeks/months/years of their lives into to do something intrinsically similar.
I hope they polish all things and will make it even better than FFXI.
I have never play WoW...only watched some friends playing it...dunno...
you never can say that a mmo will rival WoW....because a lot of WoW player have a confirmed habit..WoW is easy...simple gameplay...like Dibalo 2...even now ppl play Diablo 2. What happend when Sacred came out? Some ppl said:" Its a Dibalo 2 killer" other said:" Wannabe-Diablo2-Clone". Its time that ppl are ready for new things, and stop to compare.."but in WoW it was like that." << i heard this quote 1000000x times in Age of Conan or Warhammer. I am sick of it.
"Its time that ppl are ready for new things, and stop to compare.."
There is alot of wisdom in your words man, I really do agree. Unfortunately MMORPGs are probably the worst genre for promoting "same old shit" and the familiar.
So there's 1 player of FF over WoW. That is going to be the 1 that makes the difference I think.
If any game gives WoW a run for its money, it'll be SWTOR. @Piellar: FFXIV is slated for March of 2010, SWTOR doesn't even have a rough date yet, with best estimates putting it at October.
@ UltorOscariot EQ1 is still my all time favourite MMO. It's too bad that they've killed it to make it like WoW. Kind of like what they did to SWG.
So yes there are sequels, without failures. COH -> Champions Online (technically a sequel), EQ -> EQ2, and many more. Even WOW will eventually get a WOW2 down the line each new expansion TRIES to improve upon the graphics but like I said there are limitations. So a couple or few more years you might see a sequel. Though most likely they will keep WOW as a low-end starter and name World of Starcraft (technically in code a sequel) the high-end addition.
Sometimes Jim it doesn't have to have 2 next to it to be a sequel.
SIGH
Still does, especially in PvP.
Good luck with that WoW2 stuff.
There is enough lore to freely support 2 more expansions (Cataclysm and another one), 3-4 if they stretch it and make up some new big baddies.
After that, it's done, they can't realistically do anything else unless they go for Warcraft 4 and beyond and introduce a new period of time in the universe, but to set it up so it would carry WoW2 would take more than a decade, seeing how long Blizzard takes with it's games.
I don't see why Blizz would do that. They have a new franchise in the works, they'll probably commit to that after the WoW universe is depleted.
What?! FF14 next march?! That's... just impossible! How'd they develop it so fast? Are you sure you are not mixing the FF14 release date with the FF13 one? Otherwise it's either that the game wasn't on my radar for far too long, or they are rushing the game for a quick release and it's going to be terribad at first.
WoW only has low system requirements by today's standards... it's only because it's been out for like 6 years does it seem to have comparatively low requirements. Square has to look into the long run. Each year the standard for a basic computer gets higher; it will not be too long until having a computer that could run FFXIV will be as common place as those who have a computer that can run WoW... and as standards shift, WoW will just keep looking older and older...
To be fair WoW had low requirements back then to begin with.
The original Far Cry came out in the same year as WoW for example.
Also why can't WoW make the story for Warcraft 4? There's no rule written saying it can't be done.
I never said anything about a WoW2, they are making a new MMO as everyone knows not based on WoW. As we all know (or I guess not) many sequels make use of previous game code, in essence it will build upon WoW, in all rights be it's successor.
Another thing is that I said it would last another couple to few years, which you agree with as that would be within the amount of expansions.
WoW: 11.5 million subscriptions.
FF: 85 million units sold.
Just Saying.
You've got an MMO which Americans sometimes like, but the Japanese have yet to embrace the MMO as a popular form of gaming. But then you have Final Fantasy which is virtually a lifeforce in Japan but is pretty much a fetish in America. It's like they're trying to combine two niche and two large markets at once.
I'd like to see if anyone could ask them what kind of lessons they learned from their last online foray. If they don't mention the grind as a detriment, count me out.
But you've never played WoW. In order to beat WoW theoretically they'd need to win over a chunk of WoW players and keep them.
I can say while FFXIV interested me a bit before if they start trying to make this a WoW killer I'm out. The reason it piqued my personal interest is because up until this point it seemed like they were ignoring the inevitable bullshit comparison.
This is like when every FPS tried to be Halo. It just hurt those games.
Most MMO fans I've interacted with loved FFXI up until the part where you were forced in to parties and all (standard complaints). Hell, even when I was working for Blizzard, most GMs loved FFXI. If FFIV fixes FFXI's problems, I really do think that it'll be the one game with a real shot.
So in FF14 it will appease the FF user base once more. It wont take anything from WoW because first of all, you cant JUMP in FF MMO, the battle system is way different and its super realistic, not cartoony silly like WoW. FF games bring challenge and hardship while WoW just wants monkeys to play it and cough up their $$$ with no REAL challenge. Anyone can solo in WoW to top level, in FF11 you had to accomplish so many tasks its not even conceivable by a WoW player to reach end game.
So please stop comparing FF to WoW because it is apple and oranges. Graphics/system/music/fanbase is totally different and it is a stupid analogy.
A: Uh...yeah, sure!
Second, aside from the painfully obvious same races and trappings like that, XIV isn't something I'd really call a sequel. It's as much of a sequel to XI as XIII is to... well, the rest of the series. Common threads, yes. Straight sequel, no.
Tl;dr - FFXIV isn't trying to push WoW off the throne which would be suicidal and Wada's an idiot.
Glad to know there is a possibility that Wada is just making wild, Molineux-esque claims on FF14 and the game itself will actually appeal to different persons.
I entered the MMO market with WoW, one would think too late to try FF11, but 14 will be a good opportunity to me to give it a try. I don't guarantee anything, but I'll certainly be going for an open beta or free trial. However I can't see myself play a MMO on a console, so despite the fact I have a PS3 I'll probably go PC anyway.
They are making a new franchise.
Like you said yourself, they have a new secret MMO in the works. They have stated multiple times that it is a new IP, not a new Starcraft/Diablo/Warcraft game. One of the top WoW staff memebers left to work on it.
And you state them having 3 franchises and not coming out with any new ones lately is proof of nothing coming soon? Its the perfect time for blizzard to hype up some new shit. I have a feeling after Cataclysm, WoW is gonna lose its momentum and slow down, and they will need more than Starcraft/Diablo (both which have vastly smaller playerbases) to keep them on top.
"FFXIV is slated for March of 2010, SWTOR doesn't even have a rough date yet, with best estimates putting it at October."
Unfortunately, I think you're confusing Final Fantasy XIII with Final Fantasy XIV. XIII has a March release date. XIV does not have a release date other then TBA 2010. Anybody that says they know FF is comin before SWTOR or vice versa is completely guessing.
Umm no there is definitely a distinction. As for being first, well I refuse to do any research but I posit that for CRPG's western style rpg's hit first. A quick glance at wikipedia puts the classic Dungeon as being released in 1975 (I have never actually heard of this). My bet is also that there was no sign of emo anywhere in this game. I will also note that I love JRPG's.