Final Fantasy 14: Its expansions and why it is a success

At present, there is a base game and 4 expansions. There is a free trial here where you get to play to level 60 for free.

The expansions are as follows:

A realm reborn, 2013

Heavensward, 2015

Stormblood, 2017

Shadowbringers, 2019

Endwalker, 2021

Why FF14 is so popular

What actually makes this game so popular?

A lot of it is down to the transparency of the dev team and in particular Yoshi-P.

He holds a stream called “Letter from the Producer, Live” around every 6 weeks to let the fan base know what is happening behind the scenes( these can be found on the FF14 You Tube site here), what the dev team is working on and what will be included in the latest patch schedule which is delivered around every 4 months.  The dev team are also known to play the game; playing the game gives them a unique viewpoint on player wishes as they are players themselves.

FF14 Fan festivals

In the lead-up to a new expansion, fan fests are held. One in North America, one in Japan and one in Europe.  I have been lucky enough to get a ticket to this event which will be held in the ExCel in London in late October.  These sell over 100 thousand tickets, and it’s a fun-packed weekend filled with games, live music, dev team panels, merchandise, news, promotions, and a chance to meet up with fellow warriors of light. For more information click here.

Notable Marketing of FF14

One of the most obscure ways FF14 has used to attract fans is by playing a promotional video on the wall of a hotel in Yokohama, it spanned 459 feet high.

They are also known to collaborate with other companies by doing cross-over events and have recently teamed up with Puma to deliver an FF14 clothing range

The Official Forums

Another reason FF14 is so popular is that the dev team monitor fan forums and then delivers the content that the fans want to see most.  Yoshi-P is known to even use in-game characters to visit many of the servers in FF14 and team up with the community to do content such as raids and trials. Here is a link to a letter from Yoshi-P to the FF14 fans posted on their Twitter site, this is typical of him to try and engage with the fans and he often answers fans' questions and concerns directly in recorded interviews, it shows he actually cares about the FF14 fan base. 

My Opinion

As well as the great content what keeps me playing is the transparency of the company and how they make the players feel valued and part of the whole game-making process. Out of all the expansions Shadowbringers was my favourite for story content as it contained characters I found really interesting.  For raid content, my favourite expansion was Heavensward as the mechanics were at a more challenging level.  My least favourite expansion was Stormsblood as I found the story not as interesting as the other expansions.