Final Fantasy XIV could be almost a decade old (or over a decade old if you count the original version from 2010) but the MMORPG is more popular than ever. After the Early Access release of its latest and much-anticipated expansion, End converter, FF XIV today set a new record for active players on Steam that hit 90,000.
And it’s likely that that record will be broken in the next few days as more and more players jump online.
Final Fantasy XIVThe new expansion isn’t even officially released yet, but for people who pre-ordered it, it was able to get in via an early access version starting yesterday. Just a little over 24 hours later and now FFXIV has set a new record for active players SteamDB.
As I write this FFXIV currently 91,699 players on Steam. The previous record for top players was set in July and was just over 67,000. Even more impressive, as discovered by PCGamesN, is the fact that the popular MMO has more than doubled its active players since June this yearBase on Steam. At that time the maximum number of players was around 41,000.
The main reason for the huge influx of players is of course due to a new expansion released after years of the playerBasis grows and expands.
Another factor that helps FFXIV is probably that recent allegations of company-wide abuse and sexual harassment faced with Activision Blizzard. This has pushed many gamers and streamers away from it World of Warcraft in the last few months, possibly accelerating and already shrinking player base for Blizzard’s once venerable MMO.
And while the 91,000 players are currently playing FFXIV is certainly a lot, it is very likely that once End converter is available to everyone, not just those who pre-ordered the gameThe number of players will continue to skyrocket, possibly pushing the MMO over the 100,000-player mark on Steam for the first time since its launch nearly a decade ago.
.