This is probably not a question that will be answerable by anyone who reads it, but I'm just throwing it out there because it's on my mind after looking at the announcement of an FFXIV re-release, dubbed FFXIV 2.0.
Why does SE choose to invest (what appears to be) a substantial amount of capital and manpower in a game that was received by the international community as an unqualified failure?
The scale of the changes detailed in that slideshow are so large that they would be comparable to re-releasing FFXI with better graphics and another (small-ish) expansion. You'd drop a lot of the infrastructure building they talk about, probably increase the graphical re-works required due to having more character models, increase some backbone code programming, and you'd have approximately the same amount of work.
Why in the world would you choose to invest in a title that's synonymous with failure instead of one that has nostalgia value for many MMO players? If you're trying to bring people back to the brand, this is not how to do it.
Final Fantasy XI 2.0
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10-17-2011, 06:56 AMByrthFinal Fantasy XI 2.0
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10-17-2011, 07:02 AMRearden
This is a huge gamble for a company that has not released a quality game in many years. If this fails, which, a lot of bets are being hedged on a large PS3 subscriber base, then what will be done? The money to fund FFXIV is obviously coming from revenue generated by FFXI. Many of us have no interest in giving FFXIV another shot.
The amount of money and time it would take to make this a better and revamped game would be far less. If effort was truly visible to players that people are actually working on making this game (FFXI) better, I'm fairly certain there would be a renewed interest among many players. As it is, the general feeling is that FFXI does not have many years left and as such people are taking that into account when they ask themselves "Should I play" or "Should I keep playing".
There are a lot of new games coming out, and they will continue to draw players from FFXI to them unless FFXI shows some sign of a future.
That future for many of us is unequivocally not FFXIV. -
10-17-2011, 07:04 AMNianny
I don't think they'd ever just give up on FFXIV. Also, what I think it could be a bad move is how they're starting to charge for it still this year when 2.0 is scheluded for end of 2012, especially with some expected MMOs coming out soon.
Some might stick around and start paying for it when it starts, but I'd guess many if not most will go for the waiting route to not take any risks. -
10-17-2011, 07:16 AMHuckster
Already being discussed here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...ine-and-Future
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10-17-2011, 07:37 AMAlhanelemBecause it would be a huge embarassment to them if they allowed their flagship brand to be tarnished so heavily. That's why they're determined to fix it instead of throw it away. and it's something that can be done, if they play their cards right. Relaunches are not unprecedented.Quote:
Why does SE choose to invest (what appears to be) a substantial amount of capital and manpower in a game that was received by the international community as an unqualified failure?
The very fact that they haven't given up on it should be seen as a symbol of their dedication to producing a good product. And they need more good products, considering the company's current state.
Quite simply, FFXIV has far fewer technical constraints on it than FFXI, and they likely deemed it impractical to rebuild an 8 year old game versus one in its infancy. -
10-17-2011, 07:42 AMsvengalis
Only Sqaure Enix knows the answer to your questions. They will probably spend more money on rebuilding that game then they did with version one and it will not work. The game has been damaged. First impressions are everything. They have failed and should just move on. If there is a time they should listen to us it is now concerning FF XIV and XI.
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10-17-2011, 07:46 AMsvengalisHas been tried before with Star Wars galaxies and looked how that turned out. That should have been a lesson to everyone to learn from.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
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10-17-2011, 07:46 AMAlhanelemNo, they aren't and no they shouldn't.Quote:
First impressions are everything. They have failed and should just move on.
They've already done half the work they need to get to their goal, to abandon it now would be even more of a colossal waste than if they never made the attempt in the first place.
There are MULTIPLE other games out there that didn't launch great and later reinvented themselves and gained new players. It can and has been done. And in this case, enough time will have passed that marketing the game a second time can work.
One thing I can tell you, because I know you and the other people hating on FFXIV are thinking the same thing: Cancelling the project and cutting their losses doesn't suddenly mean a better chance for a revamped FFXI. They would most likely devote the freed resources to a new or other project. -
10-17-2011, 07:47 AMVold
I think they won't have any problem getting the playerbase they have now to pay up. They've stuck with it this far for free, but not because it's free. Some have, sure. But FFXIV is all they've got. So really it's just smart to start charging them. I didn't say it was wise... just smart. A crappy game isn't worth playing. They clearly consider the game good enough to play. I see some big talkers on those forums about not paying up but just wait, they will.
The man power invested into a FFXI reboot to push it again to all those people that always wanted to play it but could never stomach the game as it was many years ago would be the very best business decision to make right now. Right now not a single one of them realize the changes this game has endured. Hundreds of thousands of potential customers who quit because of the stupid grind back in the day. Many of them I'll bet anything were among those who bought a copy of FFXIV at launch. They could take advantage of that but no, let's throw more millions away on 14 and just sit back and milk 11 for all it's worth til no one is left playing it. I'm sure ex FFXI gamers will jump on board 14 no problem. Yeah.
10 years from now we're going to be reading interviews where SE says something along these lines: "In retrospect we made the wrong calls to ensure the continued success of FFXI. We failed our customers, but with Final Fantasy 16 Online things will be different!" That's the future if they continue to treat FFXI as a trust fund.
Look, I don't care if FFXI has lost half of it's player base in the past several years. Do what it takes to win them back or kiss your free millions every month goodbye. It's that simple. 14 is a hard lesson learned. Let it go. I'm sick and tired of my money not being used to progress FFXI at a faster than turtles pace while 30,000 players over at 14 playing for free enjoy being treated like frickin kings. -
10-17-2011, 07:50 AMAlhanelemYou're right, they did learn a lesson. That's why they're doing what they're doing. They acknowledged how they F'ed up, and rather than throw in the towel, they want people to see that they're determined to make a good game, even if people like you have already made up your minds.Quote:
14 is a hard lesson learned.
The game has already come a long way since the dev team switch, and it is heading in a good direction.
Has also been tried with other games with a good measure of success. I also wouldn't consider SWG's reinventing a faliure. However, they developed their new game to replace the old game (as they cancelled SWG to make way for TOR). This would have been disasterous for SE, because if they pulled FFXI when they launched FFXIV, that would have been 10x the hellstorm than if they didn't.Quote:
Has been tried before with Star Wars galaxies and looked how that turned out.
Most of the people who are still railing it haven't even taken the time to notice how XIV has significantly improved since its launch. The only disappointing thing to me is it's going to take another year for them to reach their goal of where they want the game to be.