Final Fantasy XIV is still going strong nearly a decade after its release. And, judging by the official release of the Endwalker expansion earlier today, it doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon.
The game’s player base continued to grow with over one million players reportedly registering between October and November. According to Eurogamer, the game’s player base has now surpassed 25 million. Following the early access launch of Endwalker, the game also broke its all-time active player record on Steam.
Square Enix announced in October that Final Fantasy XIV had become the most profitable game in the franchise, which began in 1987 and now includes over 30 games. According to IGN, the game had over 24 million registered players at the time, which was five times more than in 2015.
Shadowbringer’s popularity has been steadily increasing since its release in 2019. It grew during the summer, when many World of Warcraft players switched to the competing MMO game. Some have dubbed this rise in popularity the “Asmongold bump,” because the high-profile MMO streamer helped to strengthen the trend by switching to FFXIV on Twitch instead of his main game, WoW.
Another factor was the game’s free trial period being significantly extended. Since last spring, players have had access to over 150 hours of game content, including both A Realm Reborn and the first expansion, Heavensward, without paying a cent.
