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It's absurd to think they'd deliberately kill their own product if they're still making enough profit out of it. But I don't think that's what the OP is really saying. To quote Iron Man 2, "It would appear that the same thing that is keeping you alive is also killing you, sir." Obviously, the fatal detriments are an unintentional side-effect.
They spent 50-60mill on FFXIV, FFXIV can't get a larger playerbase unless they kill off the competition. FFXI is direct competition for FFXIV subs, most of the returnees are disgruntled FFXIV players.