Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood is already a success, buoyed by positive reviews and an active, dedicated playerbase that numbers in the millions. Yet Square Enix and the American Red Cross managed to add another accolade to the already well-decorated Final Fantasy 14 when the two companies partnered up to run the Stormblood Drive event, a pun-fuelled blood drive that saw the American Red Cross use a Final Fantasy 14-themed bloodmobile to collect plasma from fans.
As it turns out, it isn't hard to rally Final Fantasy 14 players behind a good pun - the American Red Cross managed to collect over 400 pints of blood during the short time window of the event, proving that wordplay really can save lives. Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida also presented the Red Cross with a $50,000 USD cheque from Square Enix, ramping up the support for the humanitarian organization even more. Yoshida and Square Enix even came equipped with a giant novelty cheque emblazoned with the Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood logo.
It has been a strong week for popular game developers supporting good causes. Just yesterday, Blizzard announced that the annual World of Warcraft charity pet would be released early to support disaster relief worldwide. Final Fantasy 14's Stormblood Drive spanned 14 cities and, according to a promotional video released by Square Enix to celebrate the event, saved over 1,200 lives.
Fresh off the real world success of the Stormblood Drive, Final Fantasy 14 will be looking to make big changes to the game itself, with a new update coming that will see players return to Ivalice for a raid. Final Fantasy 14's Netflix series, Final Fantasy 14: Dad of Light, has also just released and is a genuine, weird but wonderful look at the positive and negative impact MMORPGs can have on family dynamics.
Congratulations to Square Enix and the American Red Cross for a successful blood drive, and to all the fans of puns who were told the medium was the lowest form of humor - saving over a thousand lives is no joke!
Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.