Final Fantasy 14 has attracted 2 million players

The second massively multiplayer game in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, recently reached a new milestone, as more than 2 million players have now registered for the game.

No doubt the launch of the PlayStation 4 version earlier this week helped A Realm Reborn to reach this figure. It is worth noting, however, that this figure refers to the number of registered users the game has attracted. In other words, there are not necessarily 2 million players actively paying a subscription to play.

With more and more companies electing to turn their MMOs into free-to-play games, A Realm Reborn producer Naoki Yoshida defended the subscription model last month. "A lot of games look at the first two months of subscription numbers, think that's not going to be a feasible business, and switch over to free-to-play," he said. "I don't think it's necessarily because free-to-play is a better form, though. It's more about people making a rash decision to switch over and chase a quick buck."

Final Fantasy XIV's initial launch back in 2010 was disastrous, resulting in the departure of its director and a public apology from Square Enix. CEO Yoichi Wada would later claim the game had "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand. A Realm Reborn, initially released last August on PC and PlayStation 3, represents the game's relaunch and has been much better received than the original iteration.