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As a follow up to the announcement of Final Fantasy 14’s next expansion, Stormblood, Square Enix revealed plans to end support of the PlayStation 3 platform.
Stormblood’s release will stand as a major transition in more ways than one, however. Yoshida also announced that Stormblood will mark the end of PlayStation 3 support for Final Fantasy XIV.
The audience applauded on Yoshida’s announcement, as PlayStation 3 support has long been considered to be holding back the MMO’s potential because of the limited technical power. Citing a large number of PlayStation 3 players that made the transition to PlayStation 4, the decision is said to allow Square Enix opportunities they’d otherwise not be able to explore in the Stormblood expansion. Fans will have to wait for another event to learn what those opportunities are exactly.
PlayStation 3 players of Final Fantasy XIV shouldn’t give up on hope just yet, however. Yoshida also made a promise that Square Enix is working closely with Sony to offer a “free” upgrade path to bring PlayStation 3 players to PlayStation 4. It wasn’t described as to how this upgrade path will work, but players should be assured that if they can purchase a PS4 before Stormblood’s launch then Square Enix will take care of their account.
PlayStation 3 support for Final Fantasy XIV has a long history. Support for the console was announced in early 2009, a launch platform for the MMO. Eventually, though, the PlayStation 3 version of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0 would never be released because of the game’s initial poor reception and then closure. After a while, fans would demanded from Square Enix to fulfill the promise of support with the game’s 2.0 relaunch – Final Fantasy XI: A Realm Reborn – in 2013.
Final Fantasy XIV and its first expansion, Heavensward, are now available on PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The MMO’s second newly announced expansion, Stormblood, will be released in early summer of 2017 for PC and PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 3 support will end with the launch of Stormblood.
