Square Enix has no plans to make Final Fantasy XIV free to play in the near future.
Director Naoki Yoshida recently spoke to Eurogamer in an interview to clarify that the game will continue to require a monthly subscription for the time being. Square Enix does want to continue to expand the free trial too, which actually feels like a free-to-play model.
“I believe the free trial will continue to be expanded, but we have no plans of making the client itself free at the moment,” Yoshida said.
“Since a huge amount of time and money has been invested in the expansion packages, the revenue from sales of the expansion package itself is still very important in order to continue to make expansions [like Dawntrail] on this scale. We would like to constantly aim for the best on the business side as well to continue making a lot of content to be enjoyed.”
Even if it is the free trial, Final Fantasy XIV still offers tons of content and the only limit is getting to level 60. This would already take 60 hours minimum to complete and players can do anything and everything available for free.
Final Fantasy XIV is out now on PC, PS4, and PS5. The Xbox Series X/S version will be available in Spring 2024.