Final Fantasy 14 Reaches 5 Million Subscribers (#2 After WoW)

According to Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshido, FF14 reached a total of 5 million paid subscribers since its launch 21 months ago. This is NOT a current subscriber number, but rather the total number of accounts that have subscribed to the game at one point, not counting free trials. This number has jumped in recent weeks due to successful launch of the game's first expansion - Heavensward on June 23, 2015.

Square Enix has been silent about current active subscription numbers, but estimates peg it at 800,000 - 1,200,000, which would make Final Fantasy XIV the second most subscribed to game after World of Warcraft. The subscription market has been shrinking for years with the growth of free to play, but ~1M active subscribers is nothing to balk at. The closest competitor to Final Fantasy's #2 slot in the pay to play market is Eve Online from CCP, which has ~500K-650K subscribers worldwide. Other high budget titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Aion originally launched as subscription based titles but transition to a free to play model.

Since relaunching as Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, the game's playerbase has steadily been increasing. With ~1 million active subscribers, the game is still a distant second to World of Warcraft, which has ~6.5 million active subscribers.