If world immersion is your biggest sticking point when gaming, oftentimes a good MMORPG can be the best possible stopgap – and one that you’ll find yourself playing months and even years after your initial purchase. Before Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, I hadn’t been properly hooked on an MMO since trying World of Warcraft nearly eight years ago, and despite my love for Square Enix’s latest I could never get it to run smoothly on my antiquated not-even-gaming laptop. Sure there’s the PS3 version, but why buy that amidst rumors of a superior PS4 entry just around the bend? Lucky for me (and thousands of others, no doubt), Square Enix has revealed that the successfully revived MMO will hit the PlayStation 4 this April, with a beta beginning February 22nd.
The news comes via Sony’s PlayStation Awards, during which Final Fantasy XIV picked up a number of honors, including a “Special Award.” According to Square, it’s an award made to “recognize outstanding titles on the overall combination based on the following attributes: originality, buzz-worthiness, influence and performance.” That all sounds pretty vague, actually, and it’s not a typo either. Nor is it even particularly flattering. Maybe they should have just left it at “we won an award.”
At any rate, the game is definitely deserving of recognition in my book, and there’s more excitement to look forward to as well: a live showcase of the upcoming PS4 version is happening, and will be streamed on December 14th at 4AM PT. Additionally, the stream will show off content from the game’s latest patch, which launches just three days later. The plan is for the showcase to be hosted by Naoki Yoshida, the game’s producer and director, so I’m betting it’ll be quite interesting. Either way, current and future PS4 owners now have something to countdown to regarding their imminent dive into Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.