Final Fantasy XI is the most profitable entry in the franchise

What's the most profitable Final Fantasy ever? If you guessed Final Fantasy 7, you'd be wrong.

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What's the most profitable Final Fantasy ever? If you guessed Final Fantasy VII, you'd be wrong. Final Fantasy XI has earned Square Enix the most bank, thanks to its loyal paying subscriber base. "Looking at profitability, it's the top of all past FF games," CEO Yoichi Wada explained at a recent Vana Fest event.

Given the ongoing success of Final Fantasy's first MMO, Square Enix has announced a surprise expansion pack. Coming five years after the last expansion, "Seekers of Adoulin" will be available in 2013.

According to Andriasang, the expansion pack will include new areas and two new jobs. And while there will be a retail release in Japan and Europe, the North American release will be download-only on both Xbox 360 and PC.

While it's commendable that Square Enix is continuing its support of such an aging property, one has to wonder how it reflects upon Final Fantasy XIV, its other MMORPG. That game has struggled since launch, and is being rebooted with a 2.0 update. Given how much money the company has made with XI, it's no wonder Square Enix wants to repeat that success with XIV.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 25, 2012 2:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Final Fantasy XI is the most profitable entry in the franchise.

    What's the most profitable Final Fantasy ever? If you guessed Final Fantasy 7, you'd be wrong.

    • reply
      June 25, 2012 2:12 PM

      it would be if they remade ff7.

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      June 25, 2012 2:14 PM

      It would be interesting to see the numbers. I'd think a comparison of invested money vs profit would be a better way to measure the profit than raw dollars. Especially with the gaming consumers being a growing audience. It's like comparing an older movie with a new one. There's little chance of a 50 year old hi movie making the raw profits of a new one.

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        June 25, 2012 3:02 PM

        They said most profitable, not highest revenue. And FFXI came out like 4-5 years after FFVII, seems fair to me. Especially considering that FFVII sold the most copies of any FF game ever, so it could be argued that the FF audience has shrunk over time, if anything.

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      June 25, 2012 2:21 PM

      It's a shame that all that 'profit' more than likely went into fixing FFXIV.

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        June 25, 2012 2:41 PM

        It's a shame they didn't take their time with FFXIV and rushed it..I mean if FFXI was so profitable they should have realized they could have spent a little more time to make sure they hit FFXIV out of the ballpark.

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      June 25, 2012 2:24 PM

      kinda misleading comparing MMO and non-MMO games?

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        June 25, 2012 2:44 PM

        or it's a good example to show why so many companies were/are chasing the MMO market

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        June 25, 2012 2:52 PM

        how so? it's a final fantasy game.

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          June 25, 2012 3:04 PM

          Because one charges an ongoing subscription fee and the other doesn't.

          • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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            June 25, 2012 3:12 PM

            So? That product brought in more money than x other product.

            That is in no way misleading, and is exactly the kind of thing that will factor in to decisions on other projects to greenlight.

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              June 25, 2012 3:36 PM

              Avatar earned a lot of money, maybe Square should abandon games and make movies. It's all X and Y, and never mind the quality of either!

              • Ebu legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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                June 25, 2012 4:30 PM

                Except that Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy are all games and you're being obtuse.

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            June 25, 2012 3:14 PM

            that doesn't per se make it not a final fantasy game

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              June 25, 2012 3:34 PM

              OP's point was that comparing FFXI to the rest in the series is inappropriate because one is an MMO and the others are not. That they share a name immaterial to his point. You asked "how so?" and I told you. And now I'm telling you again.

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            June 25, 2012 3:22 PM

            Subscription fees partially go to ongoing development and server costs which is something the single player games don't. Seems fair enough to me.

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              June 25, 2012 3:32 PM

              The games produce very different streams of income. Why are you guys being so dense? I didn't say the comparison was misleading (I'm no the OP here), but I do think it is inapt, and it doesn't require much intelligence to understand why.

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                June 25, 2012 6:14 PM

                Is FFXI not an entry in the Final Fantasy franchise?

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                  June 25, 2012 7:04 PM

                  i tried making this point earlier, Scrivener won't budge

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                  June 25, 2012 10:25 PM

                  it is but its shelf life is MUCH longer than regular FF games. :\

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          June 25, 2012 10:32 PM

          Maybe not misleading, but the information doesn't mean as much than if they took the MMO out of the pool and told what sold the most out of the remaining games. That information would be more interesting to me at least. It seems obvious that the MMO would make more money (unless of course it was a flop).

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            June 26, 2012 1:42 AM

            That information is readily available. Find a website that lists sales numbers. FYI FF7 sold the most copies by far.

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      June 25, 2012 2:56 PM

      Still wish there was a single player version of the game. It's actually got some of the better story and characters of the series, but the gameplay itself just drives people away.

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        June 25, 2012 2:58 PM

        what is the gameplay like? Is it anything like FFXII? I am really enjoying playing through that one right now.

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          June 25, 2012 3:45 PM

          They've made it easier over the years, but it definitely feels like an old school pre-WoW MMO. You're not going to go from quest to quest to level; there is grinding. I'd think it'd be hard to get into for the first time at this point.

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          June 26, 2012 1:40 AM

          Unless it changed in the last couple of years you auto-attacked mobs for 30-60 seconds then used a skill if you're a melee, which is the majority of classes. Rinse and repeat. If you're a mage or support then you cast shit.

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      June 25, 2012 2:58 PM

      It's not fair to compare this to the single player games.....because it's a God of a game in comparison.
      Never have I been so immersed in a game world as I was with Final Fantasy XI, it's a perfect game imho.
      Which is funny because I have absolutely zero interest in any other MMORPGs, XI is in a league of it's own.

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      June 25, 2012 3:15 PM

      How much did Final Fantasy XII and XIII make combined (including the spin offs)?

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      June 25, 2012 3:51 PM

      a subscription game sold more than a single player game ?

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