Final Fantasy XIV has reached a new player milestone, and to celebrate, it’s offering former players the opportunity to play for free for a limited time.
Square Enix has announced XIV account registrations have surpassed the four-million mark. Mind you, that’s the number of total registrations the game has seen, and not the number of active subscribers. Like any other subscription-based MMORPG, that pales in comparison to World of Warcraft, which had 10 million subscribers as of November (which had dipped to 6.8 million before the launch of Warlords of Draenor). However, considering that XIV was described by Square Enix’s CEO as having “greatly damaged” the Final Fantasy brand before it was relaunched as A Realm Reborn, it’s positive news.
Hoping to reel former subscribers back in, Square Enix is offering free play time from today, February 27, until March 9 at 1 AM PDT. In order to qualify for this promotion, you need to have previously purchased and registered XIV, and your account needs to be inactive during this promotion (meaning current subscribers won’t have their subscriptions extended). You can check your account’s status on Square Enix’s website. The offer is available on all platforms: PC, PS4, and PS3.
Even if you’ve only been away from the game for a short time, there’s likely new content for you to check out. Just recently, the Manderville Gold Saucer was added, introducing new mini-games and new activities like chocobo racing.
If you’ve never played before–or don’t mind making a new account–Square Enix always offers a 14-day free trial for the game, albeit one that imposes certain limitations, such as being unable to advance past level 20.