Development Team Downsizing and Justification Makes no Sense

[Alhanelem]

But I also think that XI has been hamstrung since 2015 out of fear of impacting XIV's success

No, just no. Don't even go there. FFXI was never anywhere near big enough to "hamstring FFXIV's success." They could spend a million or two on an advertising campaign or something else to boost the game and it wouldn't affect FFXIV at all. This is an absolutely absurd proposition.

S-E need to bite the damned bullet and outsource this game to a software house with drive and ambition to make it a success.

Maybe you forgot that you alreaday covered it in your post, but they already tried that, and it didn't pan out, for reasons unknown.

The reality is that people want a different kind of game today than FFXI was in the beginning. Even if you cancelled FFXIV today and announced a remaster of FFXI, it wouldn't suddenly bring FFXIV"s millions of players over to FFXI. They would mostly play WoW or some other similar MMO instead. FFXI had several years to drum up the kind of demand that WoW eventually created, and it didn't. That's not to say FFXI was a failiure, because it wasn't, but FFXI's player count at its peak was small compared to the biggest MMOs. Your post comes off as blatant fanboyism rather than an accurate analysis of the facts/situation.

There was and is plenty of room for both games to exist. Any player of either game is making them money, and they both have rather different audiences. The bulk of players currently playing FFXI are interested in what it has to offer and the bulk of people who play FFXIV are looking for games that offer what it offers. There is SOME overlap, I personally hold a subscription to both, and I know some people in the same boat. but it's absolutely ridiculous to imply that FFXI had to suffer for FFXIV to succeed.

I can't fathom that how when hobbyists create entire servers, HD graphics overhauls, UI overlays, etc. for the joy of it, that at the very least S-E doesn't take inspiration and do the same.

There's a big difference between doing something as a hoby / for the fun of it and doing it as a job. SE's employees by and large probably want to be there, but they're doing a job and need to be paid. Thus doing this kind of thing costs SE money, and SE has to do a Cost benefit analysis to determine if the likely result is worth the cost. Whereas a hobbyist doesn't have to.

But it might take the collapse of XIV before Producers give some serious consideration to an FFXIR or FFXI-2.

FFXIV isn't going to "collapse" anytime soon. Becuase it is and always has been more successful than FFXI ever was, it actually is getting a graphical update. FFXI honestly should have gotten one, but "PS2 LIMITATIONS." FFXI's biggest mistakes have nothing to do with FFXIV whatsoever, and chief among them was not cutting the PS2 loose. They could have done so when the PS3 came out. If they had done this sooner when they were still putting any resources into FFXI, then they probably could and would have done a graphical update.

[Immortal]

No, just no. Don't even go there. FFXI was never anywhere near big enough to "hamstring FFXIV's success." They could spend a million or two on an advertising campaign or something else to boost the game and it wouldn't affect FFXIV at all. This is an absolutely absurd proposition.

False, especially considering they are practically considered the same entity under business reports. XI spending 2 million on advertising would have 0 affect on XIV? You can't be serious

Maybe you forgot that you alreaday covered it in your post, but they already tried that, and it didn't pan out, for reasons unknown.

So why bring it up? One example shouldn't be enough to stop suggesting they try it if they don't give a F about the game. I personally would hope they continue it but its increasingly obvious to me they don't care (Square Enix)

but it's absolutely ridiculous to imply that FFXI had to suffer for FFXIV to succeed.

No it isn't, and its a fact.

[Sp1cyryan]

No it isn't, and its a fact.

So does your dad work at SE or something?

You do realize this game be this way without FF14 ever existing, right? At this point it is likely helping.

[Immortal]

So does your dad work at SE or something?

You do realize this game be this way without FF14 ever existing, right? At this point it is likely helping.

Opinion...

[Alhanelem]

Opinion...

Opinion based on reality and attentive observation. It's as I said. While the launch of FFXIV ARR probably didn't help matters at the time, FFXI's future was already decided long before that. the flop that was FFXIV 1.0 should have been a boon to XI but it wasn't.

The evidence is quite clear that FFXI didn't need FFXIV's help to get to where it is now.

[Immortal]

Opinion based on reality and attentive observation. It's as I said. While the launch of FFXIV ARR probably didn't help matters at the time, FFXI's future was already decided long before that. the flop that was FFXIV 1.0 should have been a boon to XI but it wasn't.

The evidence is quite clear that FFXI didn't need FFXIV's help to get to where it is now.

Where is the evidence?

[Alhanelem]

Where is the evidence?

The evidence is in player activity prior to the game's release, along with the server merges and other signs that the game's popularity was decreasing, again prior to FFXIV ARR.

You don't have server merges when your game is super successful and copies are flying off the shelves. FFXIV 1.0 came out in 2010 was a massive flop, which should have been good for FFXI, but it didn't do much. By the time ARR came out in september 2010 and bombed hardcore. And yet not long after this, FFXI had server merges, despite that it would be quite some time before FFXIV's much more successful relaunch would happen in 2013. This means the game's population was already declining, there's no way that would happen within 4 months because of the launch of a critically panned game.