Final Fantasy XIV to start taking money again on January 6th

Square Enix have confirmed to current and past Final Fantasy XIV players that billing for the game will re-commence as of January 6th 2012.

Players who have accounts need not worry about being automatically billed by the game. On January 5th Square Enix will suspend all accounts from billing - meaning players will have to log in and consent to being charged for the game in its current state.

Final Fantasy XIV's subscription service launched with the game, but within 30 days the game was suspended into a Free-to-Play state after a disasterous launch that left players disenfranchised and forced Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada to admit the Final Fantasy brand had been "greatly damaged" by the game's quality.

A new Producer and Director, Naoki Yoshida, was bought into the game to help set it right. He took a full two hours out to chat to us about his plans and what'll be driving Final Fantasy XIV's ongoing development in a comprehensive two-part interview in October.

The PlayStation 3 version of the game is to remain in limbo until the PC version is fixed, but late 2012 or Early 2013 is looking likely for that particular release.