Square Enix profits have plunged and its stock price is at rock bottom – fortunately CEO Yoichi Wada has a plan to reverse this, including a dramatic increase in the company’s reliance on micro-transactions and item charging in its games.
He enthuses about item charges in an address to investors, the same one where he revealed the company would be scrambling to regain lost trust:

He went on to suggest the proportion of revenues accounted for by item charges will be increased from 30% to 40%.
Just whether item charging will make its way into some of Square Enix’s traditional franchises (presumably what is meant by his “Dragon Quest” reference) seems difficult to predict, although even Wada seems cautious if his comments above are any guide.
However, Final Fantasy XIV in particular was designed from the outset to appeal to casual gamers, so a free version with charges for items, skills and other content does not seem entirely outside the realms of possibility.

What profits plunge? Square Enix is doing pretty well profit wise. For the year ending in 2010 they sold 26 million units (more than previous years by a significant amount) and in the year of 2011 they project 24 million in sales. Also Final Fantasy 13 sold 5 million copies. I think whoever wrote this article is a hack who didn't fact check. Square Enix stock is down because of sector and market weakness, not because of any faults of the company.

Stock Price does not equal company profits. And there is always sector weakness in Electronics and video games before the Holidays because holiday sales are big business so quarterly filings tend to be thin at the end of the fiscal year.

I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet.

Sankaku Complex is like the best blog on the net for terrible misinformation and gullible weeaboo.