Square Enix is doing something right with Final Fantasy. Following Final Fantasy XV’s 6.5 million units sold, Final Fantasy XIV now has a global reach of over 10 million players. Though this does include free trials as well as paid subscriptions, it is still worlds ahead of its nearest rivals. In a climate where most MMOs are quickly switching to free-to-play or falling by the wayside, FF XIV is thriving. This can mostly be attributed to approaching the model and genre differently than their peers but also simply to doing better what everyone else is trying to achieve.

World of Warcraft used to be the model for success for MMOs, but the last time Blizzard released numbers for WoW in 2015, the subscribers peaked around 5.5 million. That is a huge disparity from when the title had over 12 million subscribers. The question Blizzard and every other MMO developer should be asking is just how Square Enix managed to do it.

Even after the mediocre reception for FF XI, Square Enix managed to come back years later and reinvent and revitalize the series. One of the core concepts behind this is focusing on story. The point of an MMO is to immerse the player within a world, and the best way to do that is to show the world respond to their achievements. This is why as the players beat huge bosses and earn titles, the NPCs of the world begin to respond to them for their accomplishments. In an interview with gamesindustry, director Noaki Yoshida expanded on this.

This story-driven path forward could be one we will see more and more of. Developers seem to be realizing that a game is much more than the mechanics behind it. If gamers aren’t engaged with the premise and excited to see it play out, they will tune out. Much of Overwatch’s success and fan attention is focused on the quality of the characters and their personalities. The same is true for recent fighting games, as with Injustice compared to Street Fighter V or Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. Gamers want a world they can sink into and call home, and the games that have adapted best to this seem to be the ones that have succeeded.

It may be that like over-the-shoulder cameras, open-world, or online play, the core value in games that begins to emerge is story and character, not mechanics.