Final Fantasy XIV

“

Hydaelyn – a vibrant planet blessed by the Light of the Crystal. Amid azure seas, encompassing the westernmost of the Three Great Continents, there lies a realm embraced by the gods and forged by heroes. Her name Eorzea. It is here that your tale unfolds. Beckoned by the Mothercrystal – the source of all life – you must embark upon a quest to deliver the land from an eternity of Darkness.

— A Realm Reborn, Official Website

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn official logo.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is the continuation of Final Fantasy XIV by Square Enix, having Naoki Yoshida as producer and director. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was released worldwide on August 27, 2013. It takes place in the fictional land of Eorzea, five years after the events of the original release. At the conclusion of Final Fantasy XIV, the primal dragon Bahamut escapes from its lunar prison to initiate the Seventh Umbral Calamity, an apocalyptic event which destroys much of Eorzea. Through the gods' blessing, the player character escapes the devastation by time traveling five years into the future. As Eorzea recovers and rebuilds, the player must deal with the impending threat of invasion by the Garlean Empire from the north.

Development

FFXIV: A Realm Reborn development planning started from scratch in January, 2011 – almost two years before the original game was closed (November 11, 2012) due to "flawed release and poor reception" – and saw fruition with patch 1.18 in July 2011. Yoshida and his team made major changes to the battle system, implementation of auto-attack and instanced dungeons, removal of the controversial "fatigue" system, and the introduction of the Grand Company storyline which would supersede the original main scenario questline.

On the anniversary of the game's release, Yoichi Wada claimed that the initial launch of Final Fantasy XIV had "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand. Thus, Wada and Yoshida announced the brand new version of Final Fantasy XIV in October 2011, code-named "Version 2.0", which had been in development since January, along with a tentative roadmap for future progress for both PC and PlayStation 3. In July 2012, Square Enix revealed that Version 2.0's official title would be Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. This date served as the "grand finale" for the old game, culminating in a cinematic trailer for A Realm Reborn called "End of an Era".

Testing and release

Testing phases, announcements, and game releases followed a series of events, chronologically:

The alpha test for A Realm Reborn began shortly after the original release's finale and ended in late December 2012. Yoshida published an updated roadmap for the beta test through launch, indicating four phases of beta beginning in mid-February 2013. He claimed that the team is "adamant the game not be released until it is ready" and that launching too early "would be like at the level of destroying the company".
In May 2013, Square Enix announced the release date for the game, along with details about pre-order bonuses and the collector's edition.
In June 2013, the company revealed a PlayStation 4 version was in development and due for release in 2014.
Early access began on August 24, 2013, with players able to play continuously through to the August 27 launch. Players throughout this period noted continued server issues. Due to an "overwhelmingly positive response", the servers could not handle the number of concurrent players, prompting Square Enix to temporarily suspend digital sales of the game. In light of these issues, Yoshida issued an apology to fans for the game's "rocky" launch and reassured them that fixes were in progress and new servers would be created. A week after launch, the game received a ten-hour maintenance and fresh patches, and all players were compensated with a week of free play time.
A Steam version of the client was released on February 14, 2014.
A beta for the PlayStation 4 version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn debuted on the same day as the Japanese release of the console, February 22, 2014. Owners of the PlayStation 3 client were able upgrade to the digital PlayStation 4 client for free.
A two-week free trial version first became available for PC on July 31, 2014, with PlayStation 3 and 4 versions following in December.
The macOS client debuted on June 23, 2015 to coincide with the release of the first expansion pack. The port was handled by TransGaming. Unlike console and Microsoft Windows PC versions of the expansion, the Mac release is only available in a two-in-one bundle containing the base game and the Heavensward expansion, titled Final Fantasy XIV Online.
The two-week limitation was removed in March 2017; free trial players can access all content up to level 35 with no time restrictions.

Other countries

The game was released in other countries:

The Chinese version, published and administrated by Shanda Games, premiered on August 29, 2014 featuring content through patch 2.16. It features separate servers from the other language versions of the game and a pay-per-hour micropayment billing system.
The Korean version, distributed by Actoz Soft, launched in South Korea on August 14, 2015 with content from patch 2.2. This version carries a flexible subscription model with increments as low as 5 hours, similar to the Chinese release, up to 90 days, much like the traditional monthly payment plan.