Final Fantasy brand 'greatly damaged' - Square Enix CEO

When Final Fantasy XIV Online launched on the PC last year, it did so to heaping critical scorn, so much so that within months Square Enix ousted the game's management team and delayed the planned PlayStation 3 version. At the time, the publisher publicly apologized for the state of the game, but it still hasn't managed to put the fiasco behind it.

According to an Andriasang translation of a Sponichi report, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada provided an update on the game at a Tokyo press conference today. Wada reportedly discussed ongoing problems with the game, acknowledging, "The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged." He went on to say that Square Enix is continuing to work on Final Fantasy XIV, "which basically amounts to fully redoing the game."

Last December, when Square Enix implemented the management changes and delayed the PS3 edition, it said Final Fantasy XIV game would not hit Sony's platform until the company was "confident that the game has reached the level of enjoyability and service befitting the Final Fantasy name." The game has not yet been released for the PS3 and has no current release window.