Is Square Enix preparing a Final Fantasy series subscription?

A bunch of Final Fantasy games are leaving PlayStation Plus next month. Could these games find a new home under a direct subscription from Square Enix?

3

New reports indicate that the majority of Final Fantasy games will be removed from PS Plus Extra sometime next month. The news is from a PlayStation catalog tracker on Twitter who notes that 24 games are rotating out of PlayStation Plus by May 21. The departing lineup includes 7 Final Fantasy titles.

There are currently 11 Final Fantasy games available on PS Plus:

1. Final Fantasy IX - Extra
2. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD - Extra
3. Final Fantasy VII - Extra
4. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered - Extra
5. Final Fantasy VII Remake - Premium
6. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade - Extra
7. Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age - Extra
8. Final Fantasy XV - Extra
9. Final Fantasy X / X-2 - Extra
10. World of Final Fantasy - Extra
11. Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin - Extra

All of the aforementioned games besides FF7 Remake, Intergrade, Type-0 HD and Stranger of Paradise are apparently leaving the service.

3

This got me thinking. Where could the games go? Possibly Xbox Game Pass, although there's no Final Fantasy games currently available on Game Pass. After all, Square Enix has sparked a new partnership with Xbox that has led to major breakthroughs like Final Fantasy XIV finally coming to Xbox consoles.

Then again, Square Enix could take the internal approach and make its own first-party subscription service built around its most enduring franchise.

We've seen other publishers branch out with new subscriptions, such as Rockstar with its GTA+ subscription. This sub packs in GTA+ bonuses alongside rotating access to classic Rockstar titles, including the GTA trilogy remaster and Red Dead Redemption. What if Square Enix did the same with classic Final Fantasy games?

Will such a subscription be worth it to Square Enix? It all depends on how saturated the sales of its classic games currently are, and of course what Square Enix has planned for the future. Depending on costs and the risk vs reward profile of subscriptions (potential risk of cannibalization as consumers lease access via subscriptions instead of buying full games), we could see Square Enix make some sort of interesting gamble at a franchise-specific subscription.

If done correctly, Final Fantasy could be yet another major example of the new Franchise-as-a-Service (FaaS) business model that's starting to emerge and take shape in the industry.