If the last few years have proven anything, it’s that Microsoft has been trying to make moves both big and small in an attempt to bring in new partners and allies to help boost the Xbox brand. That’s why they’ve bought companies like Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and more and have been trying to work out deals with other companies like Square Enix. Last year was a big deal for the Xbox brand, not just because of the Activision Blizzard merger finally going through, but also because Final Fantasy XIV was announced by Square Enix to finally be coming to the Xbox line of consoles.
Fans were initially excited about this for various reasons. Not least was that this was a new system to play the game on, and it wouldn’t be missing much of the content that the PC and PlayStation versions already had. Thus, new players who hadn’t touched the game before could enjoy the story until the upcoming DLC. However, there’s trouble on the horizon, and for a very basic reason.
As revealed by Square Enix and noted heavily on their official forums, there will be “two versions” of Final Fantasy XIV when it launches on Xbox Series X/S. You can do the free trial version to test the game for yourself without cost. However, if you were to get the full version, you would have to pay not only the subscription for the main game but also for the Xbox Game Pass in its most basic version.
So, when you combine the two subscription fees, you’re getting almost $25 a month just to play the game. On the forums, gamers are already blasting this move, stating that the Xbox X/S version was “dead in the water” before it even launched and that Square Enix and Microsoft were fools for making this move. It should be noted that the PlayStation version of the game doesn’t require two subscription services, which means that this “coupling” is unique to the Xbox version.
So, why are they doing this? It’s hard to say. But we do know that Microsoft is BIG on their Xbox Game Pass line, and they want to boost it however they can. That’s a noble deed, per se, but this is ticking off players who were honestly going to get the game previously, and now you have to wonder how many are willing to do the “double subscription.” Yes, some will already have Xbox Game Pass, but the numbers aren’t as high as one might expect.
