Originally Posted by
Elexia
To clear misinformation:
1. FFXIV was in production 2 - 3ish years, not the full 5 years. It was merely announced 5 years ago and the tech demo was just a video demonstration of the 360 graphical capabilities.
2. They didn't want the game to resemble XI too much, this includes the basic and we're here where we are today.
3. The release date was never pushed back. Not once. It has always been TBA 2010, then the higher ups (Wada) wanted the game out at a crucial financial point as they had no major titles for 2010/early 2011 to show on reports.
4. People paid for a featureless and literally "make your own fun" alpha/beta game called Minecraft, so clearly it's not a new concept to pay for a beta.