Final Fantasy 14 Will Not Get NFTs, But It Will Get a Visual Upgrade and a Free Trial Again

Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that he and the team have no intentions of incorporating NFTs into the MMO. What Final Fantasy 14 will be getting, however, is a visual upgrade and the return of its free trial.

As reported by Fanbyte, Yoshida was speaking through Square Enix translator Aimi Tokutake and said that, based on how FF14 is designed, he and the team have no plan on trying out NFTs in it.

"Based on how Final Fantasy XIV is designed, we don’t intend on incorporating any sort of NFT element in the game at this point," Yoshida said. “If anybody is worried or concerned about it, I can clearly state at this time that we do not have any intentions to incorporate that into the game.”

Yoshida also commented on the controversial letter from Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda that was focused on the company's growing focus on NFTs, blockchain games, and the metaverse.

"We did notice a lot of reactions, especially from the Western [audience] about NFTs, many comments about how [they’re] opposed to NFTs,” Yoshida said. “I do understand our CEO [Yosuke] Matsuda commented on the concept of NFTs in his New Year’s message, and there might be a little bit of sensitivity and nervousness around the topic.”

Yoshida continued to say that he wasn't fully opposed to the idea of exploring the NFT space, just not in Final Fantasy 14.

"I would love if there is an opportunity to speak to the subject of NFTs in an interview that is completely unrelated to FFXIV, because it is an opportunity for a new business model,” Yoshida said. “I do believe the vehicle itself could potentially be something that makes the concept of a video game a little bit more interesting. That being said, we would need a specific game design that would accommodate for the concept of NFTs.”

Final Fantasy 14 Will Soon Get a Visual Upgrade and the Return of Its Free Trial

While Final Fantasy 14 won't get NFTs, it will be getting its first major visual upgrades in Patch 7.0 and beyond.

Yoshida shared that the team wants to address the "overall picture" of Final Fantasy 14. While the "new graphics will not be comparable to standalone titles," there will be meaningful updates to textures, lighting, and shaders.

It will be a bit of a wait until Patch 7.0, however, as Patch 6.1 is currently scheduled for April 2022.

What players won't have to wait long for will be the return of the free trial on February 22, 2022. Following the release of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker, Square Enix halted the sales of the game and stopped the creation of free trial accounts to help alleviate the server load that was massive server queues. This week, they will be back.

For more, check out our Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker review and see where FF14 ranks on our list of the 10 best MMORPGs.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.