Final Fantasy 14 is encouraging Japanese players to donate their taxes

Anyone who lives in Japan and plays Final Fantasy 14 can net themselves in-game costumes or a shiba inu mount if they donate a certain amount of tax money.

Video games nowadays love to keep engagement up by offering players unique in-game items. Obviously, paid microtransactions, like skins in Fortnite, are the most common example but there’s usually plenty of freebies to be had as well.

Sometimes, it only requires booting the game up and participating in limited time events or completing a battle pass by a specific date. And sometimes, you get a free gift for it being your birthday or merely logging in.

Donating a portion of your own taxes might be the oddest example yet, but that’s exactly what Final Fantasy 14 players in Japan are being encouraged to do.

For the record, this doesn’t appear to be a scheme by Final Fantasy 14’s publisher, Square Enix, but rather the ward of Shibuya in the city of Tokyo.

In Japan, there’s something called a hometown tax where citizens can donate a portion of their taxes directly to a municipality. It doesn’t even need to be their hometown.

As a result, though, municipalities will offer rewards as incentive for donations. So in this case, the Shibuya ward is offering in-game items for Final Fantasy 14 that players would otherwise need to buy.

For example, this website lists three character costumes as requiring a donation of 7,000 yen (about £33) each, while the shiba inu mount can be acquired for 9,000 yen (about £42).

There is also a dance emote for 11,000 yen (about £52) and lastly a pack of five Fantasia potions (which let you edit your character’s appearance) for 17,000 yen (about £80).

If you’re thinking those prices seem awfully high, that’s because they are. On the Final Fantasy 14 store, those costumes are only £11.16 each, while the shiba inu mount is £13.80.

Emotes only cost anywhere from £1.15 to £4.20, while buying five Fantasia potions sets you back £28.75.

Anyone who just wants these items can save money just by purchasing them, rather than through the donation scheme. So, anyone who does donate is going to be mainly motivated by wanting to support the Shibuya ward rather than by the items themselves.

All this is being done with Square Enix’s permission, so you’d think the company would try to offer exclusive items to better encourage donations. Such a ploy, though, could risk inviting backlash from the player-base.

‘Final Fantasy 14 has deepened its ties with the local community through events held in Shibuya and other activities,’ reads a statement from Square Enix (via Famitsu).

‘Moving forward, we will continue to undertake various initiatives based in Shibuya, leveraging the characteristics of Shibuya as a hub of diverse cultures.’

Square Enix’s headquarters are based in Shinjuku, but it does have a Shibuya office, as well as a dedicated merchandise store called the Square Enix Garden.

Final Fantasy 14 also stands to see an influx of new players as the game will be launching for Nintendo Switch 2 in August, marking its first appearance on a Nintendo platform.

Square Enix recently expanded the free trial as well, allowing new players to experience not just the base game but its first three story expansions: Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers.

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