Yesterday, Sony dropped a mega-deuce when the company revealed the first trailer of Final Fantasy XIV. This news shocked everyone as there was no clue or rumor of the game before yesterday. Since Final Fantasy XIV will be a MMO, many have started to question if there will be a subscription fee. However, according to sources the game will use a free-to-play model.

The announcement of Final Fantasy XIV hit the audience like a ton of bricks as this might have been the best kept E3 secret. The audience was shocked again when Sony’s Jack Tretton announced that Final Fantasy XIV will be PS3 exclusive on consoles.

Despite being a MMO, according to Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIV will play like a regular Final Fantasy game. During the Square Enix press conference, a designer for the game indicated that the game was first crafted with it being a single player experience in mind but expanded into a MMO. Unlike traditional MMOs, gamers will be able to have a full satisfying experience playing the game solo or with a party. There will also be a huge focus on story and character development.

I talked a little about the subscription model for the game yesterday, but today I received word from a source that a Square Enix rep at the booth have indicated that Final Fantasy Fantasy XIV will use a Free-to-Play (F2P) model, which has been gaining popularity recently. There are no details yet, but apparently Sony and Square Enix is currently in discussion regarding the subscription model.

Currently, Sony has revealed that SOE will utilize a similar Free-to-Play model for new MMOs in development for the PS3. I suspect that this is the model Sony has pitched to Square Enix. Since the PS3 is fully capable of acting like server, Sony has been throwing up PS3s onto racks to act as dedicated servers for other games, so this arrangement with Square Enix sounds plausible.

Also, according to my source, Final Fantasy XIV will require at least 5GB of mandatory harddrive space, which to be frank sounds a bit too small for a next gen MMO (I’m thinking more like 10GB). During the press conference Square Enix also confirmed that there will indeed be a beta for the game, which is fantastic news. Gamers can expect a worldwide simultaneous release of Final Fantasy XIV in 2010 for the PS3 and PC.

This is good news.

Carl2291 said: @ Darth. If Lightning now dies, i will hunt you down!

**SPOILER**

Sephiroth stabs her in the conch shell.