Reviews have praised its aesthetic and gameplay loop. The original release was unsuccessful, but following its re-release under Gamepot it became successful and profitable, gaining one million players by 2011. The original music was composed by Basiscape, a company founded by composer Hitoshi Sakimoto. Production met with several challenges including logistic issues, the technology required for large-scape online battles, and the merger of Enix with Square in 2003.

Kamitani and Puraguru left the project in 2004 due to differences with Square Enix, with Multiterm taking over production duties. The game closed down in September 2022.įantasy Earth began in 2001 as a project under Enix, with Puraguru founder George Kamitani steering the project away from its initial concept of humans fighting vampires to its current kingdom-based aesthetic. Under the premise of a world where rival kingdoms engage in frequent conflicts, players choose an allied kingdom and fight against each other in groups of up to fifty players. It relaunched under Gamepot as a free game, and was later handled by developer SoftGear and publisher Square Enix. Originally developed by Puraguru (now known as Vanillaware) and Multiterm under the title Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, it was released by Square Enix as a paid product through its PlayOnline service. So, when we proposed that idea, applied to a traditional, high quality Square Enix game, it’s a case of the best of both worlds.Fantasy Earth Zero was a 2006 massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed for Microsoft Windows. Sheloman Byrd: Well, at Gamepot, we believe in a few things, one of our core ideals is “Fun is Free”. Hooked Gamers: The game has gone from being a pay-to-play to a free-to-play MMORPG. The changes made helped Fantasy Earth Zero become a great success. We’ve also initiated our own light social networking within the game, such as an event calendar that players fill out to schedule in-game events. We’ve also added new classes, and of course, gameplay balance. To say the players responded would be an understatement. Sheloman Byrd: Biggest change would be changing the model from subscription to Free to Play.

Hooked Gamers: What are the biggest changes you’ve made to the game since it first went live in Asia on February 23rd 2006? They had tried many initiatives over the years, so we were able to plan around the hurdles. We looked at that, as well as our own ideas of what players here wanted, and made a strategy. Sheloman Byrd: Well, to be honest, when we had our initial meetings in Japan, both our corporate office and Square Enix were on the same page in terms of what the game was, and what the players there responded to. What are the major hurdles you’ve had to overcome along the way? Hooked Gamers: Fantasy Earth: Zero has been in development for a long time and gone through its fair share of trouble along the way.

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