Development Team Downsizing and Justification Makes no Sense

[Pixela]

back on topic

I was watching a video earlier and something they were saying made me see this for what it is.

The realities of the game

SE have profit margins they will demand be met from the producer of xi.
FFXI has a standard sub fee that has not changed for 21 years, they can't change this.
Wages of all SE staff rise inline with inflation, whether they want it or not.
Measures they added to selectively increase revenue were not enough to counter inflation (wardrobes etc)
A certain server launched within the past 6 months that lead to a loss of long time players, even if temporarily.

Given the timing of being announced just before the 21st anniversary when it was due to be funded for another year, and the shock leaving of Matsui when he said he wanted to stay till retirement it's obvious what happened to me.

They went for the yearly funding meeting and were told the game isn't making enough money and to either heavily reduce funding or see the game close.

As such they selected to effectively fall on their swords and retire or be moved to other departments to allow XI to continue running.

Allowing the game to continue running allows the possibility of funding to be increased in future and possibly even next year, if the issues above are rectified because yearly funded is decided based on the performance of that year.

If you care about the game and are upset at recent actions (as I am), keep in mind they are keeping it running and the future could be better. If you can afford it, continue to support it.

The developers do care about this game, they could of just walked away but they are determined to keep it going and so should we.

[Sirmarki]

FFXI has a standard sub fee that has not changed for 21 years, they can't change this.

Why not?....

[Sp1cyryan]

Why not?....

Because the name of the game is to make junk up and insert garbage memes.

[Pixela]

Because most of the population don't understand what inflation means, and so will be outraged if they increase the sub inline with inflation.

Ultimately, if they increase it they will end up losing more money than just leaving it. Which is why no sub mmorpg increases the sub and just adds extra revenue streams instead. Everything else increases with inflation but sub mmorpgs are afraid to do it.

[Sp1cyryan]

Because most of the population don't understand what inflation means, and so will be outraged if they increase the sub inline with inflation.

Ultimately, if they increase it they will end up losing more money than just leaving it. Which is why no sub mmorpg increases the sub and just adds extra revenue streams instead. Everything else increases with inflation but sub mmorpgs are afraid to do it.

Just stop, you don't know anything.

[Pixela]

Because the name of the game is to make junk up and insert garbage memes.

Just stop, you don't know anything.

[Zehira]

Welcome to the official forums, literally everyone... lol

[Stuzey]

well the cost of running the servers has also decreased quite significantly, you are right, some costs have gone up, others have gone down. Inflation is only part of the story...

[Alhanelem]

well the cost of running the servers has also decreased quite significantly, you are right, some costs have gone up, others have gone down. Inflation is only part of the story...

Where'd you get this idea? Servers use electricity and a connection with an ISP, and these things have not gotten cheaper. These are the primary costs, aside from data center space allocation, which I doubt has gotten cheaper either.

[Haldarn]

FFXI has a standard sub fee that has not changed for 21 years, they can't change this.

No, the sub fee should not/would not rise with inflation. It is a service charge and is set by the market rate.

The end product (development) is funded by number of players less server/staff costs. I find it hard to believe there's not enough to fund development for a single expansion in eight years, considering the other MMOs of the same era that are still churning out new content, some that don't even have a sub, and taking into account the large revival the game had a few years ago.

I do concede that if you plan five years ahead for the current FFXI in the maintenance mode we've been told about, you'll end up with a dead game. But I also think that XI has been hamstrung since 2015 out of fear of impacting XIV's success - which should be less of a concern now that XIV is #1 in the genre, but then I guess Yoshi-P has his entire career riding on the success of XVI next month and the trailers haven't given me high expectations for it to be anything other than the next natural progression of Type-0/XV/VIIR/Stranger of Paradise.

You have to spend money to make money and I think we can all agree that FFXI is a fantastic IP which would be a travesty to let dwindle to nothing. It makes no business sense to do so, but it seems that executives don't grasp the intrinsic value of what they have. I don't disagree with Matsui-P's New Year statement that he was concerned for his devs being in a dead-end job, but surely the responsibility of the Producer to his staff, customers and the game itself is to demand FFXI is brought kicking and screaming into the modern day with a transfer to a XIV-like graphical engine, the long-touted UI overhaul and presence on at least PS4/5. A dev-team that resurrects a 20+ yr old MMO would be worth critical acclaim, even more so than those who changed 1.0>ARR.

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.

I can't fathom that they don't understand that investing in the IP can renew it for a whole new generation (considering the proof delivered by VIIR). Over on the XIV forums, the majority that mention XI think it's still the same as the day Abyssea was released and deride it as some archaic piece of history where it was so much fun (wink wink lol) to camp NM spawns for 24hrs. On Facebook, most comments to every FFXI post are requests for the 'classic' server - gods just recreate the game and make one server for classic play and people will be bored quickly enough, but there'll probably be enough people to keep one of those servers going. FFXI today stands as an enjoyable modern MMO (if you're not on Asura) and the quality of post-Seekers storytelling and characterisation equals if not outstrips that of XIV.

The loss of hope that was the cancellation of Mobile was devastating. Nexon whatever, but I gave their "V4" mobile MMO, released just after the cancellation of FFXIR, a crack and any XI player could see that this was their intention for XI - a game where it basically gambited the grind and you spent your active time whilst it idle-fought in the gear screen, optimising for the encounters. All the non-combat stuff including the graphics just felt perfect as XI too.

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. They've done that with FF1-FF6. It feels like they pity us subscribers and are putting the game into maintenance mode out of a moral obligation to us, because at least that way they're not making a loss, like they're trying desperately to wean addicts off a drug in the slowest, least psychologically damaging (and profitable!) way possible.

I am disappointed and upset, but I'm still subbed because I still have a ton of game to play and I love the environment, especially the music.

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