Square Enix’s CEO says that problems with Final Fantasy XIV had done a lot of damage to the Final Fantasy brand.
Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada says that the amount of polish and work that MMO Final Fantasy XIV needed to get it up to snuff was so great, that it basically amounted to remaking the game from scratch.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Wada said that the Final Fantasy brand had been “greatly damaged” by the problems with FFXIV and that work on the game was ongoing. “We’ll continue with our reform work,” he said, “and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released.” Final Fantasy XIV was notoriously broken when it came out late last year. Square Enix extended the free trial period, initially for a month, and then indefinitely while it tried to get the game working. Square Enix even reorganized the development team under new director Naoki Yoshida, who had previously worked on the Dragon Quest franchise.
While it’s all well and good for Wada to be contrite now, it does beg the question as to why the game was released in such a sorry state in the first place. Comments from former producer Hiromichi Tanaka suggest that the Square Enix was unwilling to move or delay the game’s launch, which resulted in a rushed product. If that is the case, it would seem to be a very short-sighted move on Square Enix’s part.
Source: Andriasang
