Final Fantasy 14 in the last year has reached an insane level of popularity. To many, the game has surpassed another popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft, but for Final Fantasy 14's Director, Naoki Yoshida, he is not very fond of the comparison.
When it originally launched in 2010, no one could have foreseen the mighty success FF14 would eventually become. A broken, at times, unplayable game in 2010, A Realm Reborn in 2013 revitalized the game, and ever since, has continued to grow with new content expansions. Before FF14 though, was WoW in 2004, a game that went on to define the MMORPG genre, and be considered the greatest of its kind. With FF14 breaking Steam's concurrent player count, many believe the game has surpassed World of Warcraft as the MMO giant.
In a recent Final Fantasy 14 livestream, Yoshida discussed the impact of WoW on FF14. When told by the interviewer that FF14 beat WoW as the most played MMO this year, Yoshida quickly responded, "I don't think we beat WoW. (...) This whole conversation about surpassing WoW is the wrong conversation to have and it's honestly irritating." He elaborates that without WoW, A Realm Reborn would not exist, emphasizing Blizzard's influence on FF14's revival. Fans of WoW could ease themselves into FF14 due to the similarities of the two games.
Yoshida goes on to acknowledge specifically the player count metrics of FF14 when compared to WoW. At the peak of WoW's popularity, there were 12 million paid subscribers, to which Yoshida exasperatedly proclaimed, "There's no way we can compete with that!" While FF14's subscribers continue to grow everyday, the juggernaut that was WoW at its peak is still a ways away. With popular WoW streamers dabbling into FF14 though, perhaps the summit is attainable yet.
This reaction from Yoshida is an indication of he and his team's humility while working on FF14. To be irritated when being compared to one of the greatest games ever made speaks to the reverence they have for the developers at Blizzard and what they achieved. On social media, FF14 congratulated WoW on its expansion last fall, demonstrating that although they are games inherently competing against one another, acknowledging industry success is important as well. Now all that remains is some sort of content crossover between the two games.
Yoshida himself has opened up much of his personal life to the FF14 community. Known as Yoshi-P by fans, Yoshida broadcast himself a couple months ago, where in between instances of gameplay, featured him baking cookies and sipping wine, amongst other things. His humble nature is reflected there as it is here, and it shows in FF14's success.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: PC Gamer
