Hot take: the problem is Square Enix, not Microsoft. Requiring a monthly subscription without guaranteed content each month is a very outdated concept. Most live-service games sell you a piece of content, like a battle pass, once per "season" that replaces the need for a subscription. All the normal functions of a subscription-based game, like new maps and gameplay content, are there, and the company is well-funded. But you are paying for the content, not the access. If there is no content, you do not have to pay. Final Fantasy XIV makes you pay regardless of whether there is new content. And Square Enix doesn't give us new content every month. Even World of Warcraft, the only other major subscription-based MMO, has monthly updates. FFXIV is a freakish anomaly in that it's using an old model and it's using it incorrectly.

It's 2024, why is Square Enix still clinging to old tricks (and failing)? Perhaps they should read the room and realize that no one else is stuck this far behind. Given that there are countless live-service games on Game Pass without an extra sub, it seems that requiring two subs is on Square Enix and not Microsoft.