Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
No, it wasn't. It's a beloved title that is still actively supported in the present day - whereas many MMO's that came after it crashed and burned. If it wasn't for FFXI's success, FFXIV would likely never have been made - and it very likely would not have been remade after 1.0 proved to be a disaster.
It was a niche title that never achieved any sort of significant recognition beyond the distinction of being the most widely-played Japanese MMO in the world.

The success it enjoyed was entirely due to the Final Fantasy IP, and having the (at the time) commercial juggernaut of SquareSoft be able to continuously throw money away to support it. It was well over a year after the game's initial release before it attracted enough subscribers to break even.
If that game had been released by any other company you would not even know it ever existed.