Hm
Months ago Square Enix unveiled Final Fantasy XIV‘s companion app, and now information is really starting to come together after they’ve updated their official website. Again the base app will be free, and will include the ability to chat with friends, check out events, peruse your inventory and armory chest (read: extra space to keep gear), and check out the market board.
For the “premium” plan that will run you $5 a month you’ll also be able to mess around with your retainers (NPCs that hold items, adventure on their own, and sell items for you), gain an extra retainer (the game gives you two by default and more is another $2 premium), and an extra Chocobo saddlebag to hold items in the field. Buying items from the marketboard will also cost Kupo Nuts or Mog Coins. You earn one per day of the former if you’re a free user (and can carry two total) and two for premium (10 carry limit). Mog Coins are premium and are going to be particularly contentious.
I’m still loving Final Fantasy XIV even if I’m on a momentary hiatus before the next patch drops — but premium items and features have been slowly creeping up on the game for the past year. Emotes and cosmetics kind of make sense even if there’s a ton of them at this point (and the base functionality sounds great), but charging an extra $5 on top of a subscription fee for an extra Chocobo saddlebag isn’t a great look.
Fans have been asking for more space for a long while, and although the company says that the extra fee will go toward server costs associated with that, I’m not sure gating a feature like this will endear people enough to actually shell out for it. But you won’t have to worry about it right now: the app was supposed to be out in May and still isn’t ready.
On the new landing page Square Enix notes: “the premium service plan is scheduled for release soon but is currently unavailable.”
Final Fantasy XIV Companion [Square Enix]
