Final Fantasy XIV beta “starting soon”

Final Fantasy XIV producer Hiromichi Tanaka has said that the beta for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game “will be starting soon.”

“We will do some final adjustments from the beta test and then we will have a launch in 2010,” he told Eurogamer.

He’s said that though the game was just recently in alpha and just beginning its beta, the game is still on track for a 2010 release. He’s confident it’ll launch simultaneously on both platforms, though he admits it was “very challenging” to “customize” the game for each platform and was “taking some time” to do so.

“Yes, the current plan is for a simultaneous launch, and we’re trying hard to stick to that,” he said.

Tanaka shared his thoughts on the competition, as well, saying that Final Fantasy XIV will not be phased by the likes of World of Warcraft.

“The reason why many MMOs failed after World of Warcraft launched was probably because they were trying to copy World of Warcraft,” he explained. “For Final Fantasy XIV we’re not trying to copy World of Warcraft, we’re trying to choose something different.

“Final Fantasy never had any influence from World of Warcraft,” he added, “so we want to continue that and try to reach a different audience.”

Final Fantasy XIV launches worldwide on PlayStation 3 and PC this year.