During a recent hands-on preview event for the upcoming Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker expansion, director Naoki Yoshida revealed that Square Enix's popular MMORPG recently has surpassed 24 million players. Furthermore, it is the most profitable Final Fantasy game in the series.

Speaking to the press in a digital preview event, Yoshida revealed that the player count has hit 24 million players 11 years after Final Fantasy 14 was first released. In a chart Yoshida shared with the press, Final Fantasy 14's player count back in 2015 was 4 million registered players. That number hit 10 million by the time the third expansion, Stormblood, was released in 2017, before doubling in the next four years.

"You all know just how hard things were for us with the original Final Fantasy 14," Yoshida says referencing the MMORPGs infamous launch. "Since then, we were able to transform the title into one that provides a major contribution to our company's profits."

Indeed, Yoshida says Final Fantasy 14 is the most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series. "It's perhaps unbecoming of me to say but in terms of our business, we've been able to achieve great success. Moving forward, we're going to spare no expense with our investments to ensure that this game continues to be one which our players can enjoy."

Final Fantasy 14's continued success is one of the highlights in the MMORPG space and a true comeback story. Especially after the version of the game that was released in 2010 was critically panned. But this year alone, the word-of-mouth buzz for Final Fantasy 14 has seemingly taken the game into the mainstream.

And just because the upcoming expansion is set to conclude a major storyline doesn't mean Final Fantasy 14 is over. During the presentation, Yoshida spoke about the next ten years and thanked the player-base for sticking with the game.

Check out IGN's full hands-on preview of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker to learn more about the new classes and areas coming to the MMO with the expansion.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

While not included in the upcoming expansion, Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker will receive a post-launch patch with a new mode that vaguely sounds like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing called Island Sanctuary. In an interview with IGN, Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida shared more details about this upcoming mode and what you can and can't do.

Details for the Island Sanctuary mode remain sparse, especially since it's not planned to be released until after the Endwalker expansion is released in November. But we did know that you can tend to animals and crops similar to a farming sim.

Speaking with IGN, Yoshida elaborated further by explaining in Japanese it's vaguely called "pioneering of a deserted island" which the team translated into Island Sanctuary. "There are elements of pioneering and building things," Yoshida revealed. "So you would have a facility that you build or a farm that you can cultivate or you can have animals there." But as far as any ties to the main game, it's completely optional.

"You can leave it as-is if you want to let the weeds grow out of control, that's perfectly fine. Or if you want to go there and make it your own, that's perfectly fine as well." There is also a social element to Island Sanctuary where you can invite friends and "idly chat," if you so desire.

Yoshida joked that hardcore raid content players might find the mode "pointless" since there are no objectives, but this is meant to be a kind of reprieve. And while players have home estates already they can customize, Yoshida added that "With Island Sanctuary we're trying to accomplish things that you can't do in your regular estate."

It will be a while until we can finally see Island Sanctuary in action, but a social-focused mode divorced from the MMORPG grind sounds pretty appealing.

Final Fantasy 14 is on a hot streak, celebrating 24 million registered players in 2021. For more, check out IGN's full hands-on preview for Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker is set to conclude a decades-long storyline that began at launch. Aside from hours and hours of new story content, the next expansion, Endwalker, will include several new areas and two new job classes: the healer-class Sage, and melee DPS Reaper.

IGN was given hands-on time with both of the new classes, an opportunity to try out a new dungeon, as well as a tour of three of the six new areas coming to Endwalker. Here is everything we saw during our preview with the upcoming expansion.

What’s New in Endwalker?

As far as MMORPG expansions go, Final Fantasy 14 keeps things relatively simple. Each new chapter adds a few new classes, new areas, and tentpole content like dungeons and raids. This makes Final Fantasy 14 one of the easier MMORPGs to preview as there aren’t game-changing meta-systems added with each expansion.

Along with the two classes and six new areas — including a new hub city called Old Sharlayan — there will be a level cap increase from 80 to 90.

There will also be some downscaling coming down the pipeline. Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki Yoshida was keen to explain how the downscaling is required to solve a few incoming issues like bugs resulting from calculations overflow, and enemy HP becoming monstrously high.

To solve this, gear attributes, overall player HP, damage values, and enemy HP and damage have been reduced, making the overall difficulty balance relatively the same as before the downscaling.

The core of any Final Fantasy 14 expansion, however, is the story, and Yoshida says Endwalker has the largest “volume of story quests” to date. Unfortunately, none of the story content was available during our preview.

Two New Classes: Sage and Reaper

Instead, IGN spent most of our hands-on time with a work-in-progress build of the new classes. Yoshida stressed that development for both the Sage and Reaper classes is ongoing and that the skills shared with us are not final.

Before diving in, I should mention first that my main class in Final Fantasy 14 is Dancer, a ranged physical DPS. And while I’ve completed the most recent high-end Savage content, I am not a theory-crafter like my raid leader. I’m just a very good Dancer.

This is intended as a general look at the new classes, and if it’s helpful, insight into whether either of the new classes is friendly for folks looking to dip their toes into Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker. If you are looking for a more granular preview, I’ve included the toolkits for both new classes below while reiterating that these are not the final specs for either of these classes.

Sage and Reaper are the two newest classes added to Final Fantasy 14 with the Endwalker expansion. The Sage is the new barrier healer class, while Reaper is a melee DPS. On a surface level, both classes are pretty flashy as they both utilize unique and visually stunning weapons and abilities. The Sage uses hovering machines that heal and fire lasers called Nouliths, while the Reaper carries a big scythe and can summon a dark familiar.

Reaper is a fairly straightforward class and one I imagine will be quite popular with veterans and newcomers alike. The character has two gauges, a soul gauge and a shroud gauge that are built up using specific attacks. You’ll then spend this meter to unleash even more devastating – and very cool-looking – attacks on anything that wrongs you.

In an interview with Yoshida after the demo, he explained that the goal with the Reaper class is that it has a fast tempo. And instead of waiting to fill your gauge fully for a burst attack, players will instead unleash attacks when they become available to them. “There are certain skills you can throw in there to quickly fill up your gauge and rapidly cycle through those,” Yoshida explained.

The Sage class is a bit trickier and I would not recommend this class to beginners. The core concept, as far as I can tell from my hands-on time, is to utilize Sage’s ability to heal or shield party members while simultaneously attacking.

At the higher levels, a Sage can translate damage done to enemies into healing or buffs for party members, which might be welcome news for the more offensive-minded healers currently playing Final Fantasy 14. But as you can see below in my full run-through of the new dungeon, The Tower of Zot, ineffective utilization of your abilities will mean you aren't maximizing damage or healing throughout your party.

10 Years of Final Fantasy 14

Final Fantasy 14 has come a long way since it was first released in 2010. Following a rocky launch and a soft reboot with Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, Yoshida announced that Final Fantasy 14 has officially surpassed 24 million players worldwide. According to Yoshida, Final Fantasy 14 is the most profitable game in the Final Fantasy series, which is no small feat.

Despite the decade of development, there's no indication Final Fantasy 14 is slowing down and Yoshida tells the press the team is already looking forward to the next ten years of the game. By wrapping up the long-running storyline, the Final Fantasy 14 team is already looking towards new kinds of experiences, including a patch content called Island Sanctuary that sounds pretty similar to Animal Crossing.

Much has been made about Final Fantasy 14's popularity in recent months, especially as discontent mounts against its rivals. But Endwalker is shaping up to be an expansion from a development team confident in its vision for an MMORPG. Check out our previous interview with Final Fantasy 14's director, and keep an eye out for Endwalker when it's released on November 23.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

A recent major update for the enhanced version of Quake brought a number of changes to the game, including improved analog input on controllers, aim smoothing, and various other general tweaks. However, one detail that wasn't highlighted is that it's now possible to play the game using mouse and keyboard controls on consoles, including Nintendo Switch.

As tweeted by idTechpics (below), one Reddit user showed the Nintendo Switch version set up to fully support mouse and keyboard controls via the dock's USB ports. In the image the Switch is docked, with the player trading out a Pro Controller in favour of the game's original control scheme.

We've tested this ourselves with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and it works pretty seamlessly. On Switch in particular, it's an ususual feature, with very few games offering native support for keyboard and mouse (with on of the few other notable examples being Hypnospace Outlaw).

Quake supporting keyboard and mouse on Nintendo Switchhttps://t.co/ulJqox70HP pic.twitter.com/ca5QFNyRUC

— Powered by id Tech (@idTechpics) October 11, 2021

A remastered version of Quake was initially revealed back in August during QuakeCon following a leak. The game then launched the very same day for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch as well as Xbox Game Pass. As of October 12, the games have also been upgraded for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, offering 4K, 120 frames per second play.

The enhanced version of Quake comes with the game's original expansions, The Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity as well as including MachineGames' Dimension of the Past update, which was released to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary. For players looking for a new challenge, the enhanced edition also included a second expansion called Dimension of the Machine.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

The original Cowboy Bebop voice actors are returning for the Japanese dub of the live-action series, which premieres on Netflix in November, just weeks after the anime joins the streamer.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Netflix has tapped the original voice cast of the beloved anime to reprise their roles for the Japanese language track of the live-action version of the show, with multiple members of the cast already confirmed, including Koichi Yamadera as the voice of Spike Spiegel, who will be portrayed on-screen by John Cho in the series.

Taiten Kusunoki will replace the late Unshō Ishizuka as the voice of Jet Black on the Japanese language dub alongside returning anime cast members Megumi Hayashibara as Faye, Norio Wakamoto as Vicious, Gara Takashima as Julia, Ken'yû Horiuchi as Gren, and Takaya Hashi as the Teddy Bomber together with Tsutomu Taruki and Miki Nagasawa as Punch and Judy.

Hikaru Midorikawa will return to voice Lin, one-half of Vicious' twin enforcers, alongside Romi Park who will step up to voice Shin, Lin's younger brother, who was voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama in the original anime. Masako Isobe is onboard as the new voice of Spike's former mentor Mao, taking the reins from Kazuaki Itō who voiced the character in the 1998 series.

Netflix recently acquired the streaming rights to the original Cowboy Bebop series, with all 26 episodes of the anime being made available on the platform from October 21. The acquisition of the series allows audiences to get acquainted with the characters ahead of the live-action adaptation, which is due out less than a month later on November 19.

The new series is developed by André Nemec, who has past experience in taking animation to live-action, having been credited as one of the writers on the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. He previously discussed the process of adapting the original Cowboy Bebop series, assuring fans that the series will not be "violating the canon in any direction."

The 10-episode first season of Netflix's Cowboy Bebop series will debut on November 19 — and there are a few things we think the show needs to get right. Cowboy Bebop joins several other live-action adaptations in the pipeline, including a new Netflix series based on One Piece, an Akira remake from director Taika Waititi, and a reimagined version of Your Name.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.