PSA Regarding Stormbloods Budget and content development

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

But how do you KNOW its not triple?

If this is about facts, you shouldn't spread things you don't have proof for, no?

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You don't have to prove something doesn't exist. You DO have to prove something DOES exist though. Unless otherwise stated we can assume the budget for the game has remained within relatively average amounts.

Yes, the budget point is well made. Increase in cash shop revenue doesn't mean the budget suddenly changes for development... it's not like they stick to a zero dollar budget. They are trying to hit revenue goals and over performing is not a bad thing.

People believe what they want to believe....even if it is nonsense.

Also- triple the budget for an expansion- if that was true, marketing would be all over it.

I am guessing fanboys, employees, trolls, or Russian fake news posters just throw junk out there and see who bites.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

@4.0 will have Triple the Budget discussion

So, I was researching this in more depth today since I'm also a fan of not spreading misinformation and like to fact check topics that pique my interest.

I've gone through the SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS website in depth and have found nothing that speaks to budgetary allowances for any facet of Final Fantasy XIV. All the information presented is in general categories (net income, gross income, investment income, etc) and any mentions of Final Fantasy XIV are general notes taken in their financial summaries (IE, FFXIV is part of our digital entertainment branch and due to the MMO nature of the game has been a steady source of income for S-E as a whole). If anyone can correct me on this and point me to a direct source that shows what exactly the budget of Heavensward and Stormsblood or the operating capital used in 2015, 2016, and 2017 for FFXIV as a whole - I'd consider this lead a bust.

I've also tried to go through the Japanese keynote addresses since it was indicated earlier that it was mentioned in there. I've listened to one and skimmed through two more YouTube summaries ( for reference: #1, #2, and #3 ) and tried to find any notes regarding the Japanese Keynote address. As far as I can hear or see, nothing mentions "triple budget" and I would imagine if a 200% increase in funds to FFXIV was spoken out loud, someone would've caught it.

So, until there's a solid source of where this "triple budget" note came from - I'm personally going to also call it a troll move and move on from there.

I'd encourage anyone else who believes the triple budget claim to do their own research and try to reinforce this argument because having a direct quote or publication stating that would end the discussion entirely.

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It's not from a publication and its not official. It's based on something that Yoshi-P said during one of the Fan Fest talks. No, I don't remember which one, and no it's not something you'll be able to find due to the redistribution restriction on the stream from Cleeng (unless you have all 3 streams, Ethys's and Happy's videos are a good recap, but they can't cover every little thing said). I don't believe Yoshi-P meant that it's "literally three times the budget", but he did say that SB has a significantly higher budget than HW did.

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Originally Posted by LillithCale

Does anyone have access to the NA Fanfest Stream? That's where I believe I heard it at first. Koji and Yoshi were doing a little back and forth and Koji said something about increased funding and I distinctly remember looking at the FC mates sitting with me and going "did he just say increased funding?"

I was at Fanfest so I don't have the stream, but if someone else does they can try review the keynote broadcast to see if it's there.

I could very well be crazy and have misheard. But it was after the keynote though that I noticed the 'triple the funding' popping up on the forums and reddit.

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Originally Posted by SaitoHikari

Yeah, I distinctly remember the funding thing coming out of Reddit during the NA Fanfest, during a live update thing from a Q/A they were holding.

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I'll try to find more sources but according to Ethys Asher YouTube video for the NA Keynote address he mentions that the "budget for this expansion will be a magnitude higher". I'll try to find more but it makes sense if XIV is as successful as is lead to believe, it would make sense that S-E would attempt to reinvest some of the money back into the game to try to generate even further revenue. Perhaps not the triple people want to say but it wouldn't be a far leap of logic to see more cash flow to be provided for the XIV operating staff.

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Originally Posted by Malzian

It's not from a publication and its not official. It's based on something that Yoshi-P said during one of the Fan Fest talks. No, I don't remember which one, and no it's not something you'll be able to find due to the redistribution restriction on the stream from Cleeng (unless you have all 3 streams, Ethys's and Haapy's videos are a good recap, but they can't cover every little thing said). I don't believe Yoshi-P meant that it's "literally three times the budget", but he did say that SB has a significantly higher budget than HW did.

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I agree, I'm more inclined to believe "more funding" versus "triple the funding" and I did find a quote from Ethys' video that indicates there will be more funds allocated *Points to above* I'll see if I can find some notes a few stream watchers took that might indicate this as well.

For me, I was trying to find some personal closure about the whole "triple budget" rumour and for now, that part of me fully agrees with the case that the "triple budget" claim is false.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

I'll try to find more sources but according to Ethys Asher YouTube video for the NA Keynote address he mentions that the "budget for this expansion will be a magnitude higher". I'll try to find more but it makes sense if XIV is as successful as is lead to believe, it would make sense that S-E would attempt to reinvest some of the money back into the game to try to generate even further revenue. Perhaps not the triple people want to say but it wouldn't be a far leap of logic to see more cash flow to be provided for the XIV operating staff.

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Indeed, and there's a lot of semantic difference between saying something will be higher and saying something will be a magnitude higher. A 'magnitude higher' infers a great deal more than simply saying something is or will be higher.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

I'll try to find more sources but according to Ethys Asher YouTube video for the NA Keynote address he mentions that the "budget for this expansion will be a magnitude higher". I'll try to find more but it makes sense if XIV is as successful as is lead to believe, it would make sense that S-E would attempt to reinvest some of the money back into the game to try to generate even further revenue. Perhaps not the triple people want to say but it wouldn't be a far leap of logic to see more cash flow to be provided for the XIV operating staff.

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Being 100% honest as someone there in the crowd, I do not remember the words 'triple the budget' being said.

I remember just hearing 'budget increased' and Koji being all..Koji about it when he said it. Unfortunately I've not been able to find a video of the NA Keynote on youtube, but one of my FC mates may have bought the stream so I'm waiting to confirm with them if they'd be willing to watch the keynote over again and see if they can catch what I think I'm rememebering.

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Originally Posted by Ghishlain

I'm more inclined to believe "more funding" versus "triple the funding" and I did find a quote from Ethys' video that indicates there will be more funds allocated *Points to above* I'll see if I can find some notes a few stream watchers took that might indicate this as well.

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Definitely more funding. I have access to all three streams, but I can't comb through them now nor can I provide you with any clips due to the redistribution clauses.

I think overall we can all agree that there was mention of an increased amount of funding, we just don't know how much and how large of a magnitude.

"Triple the budget" feels far too much in my opinion and would love to see if anyone has a source that indicates that. Otherwise I'd say that particular claim is a bust.

Yep, there has definitely been more relegated. What still concerns me was their comment about reinvesting for "the first time" The implication being the profits haven't gone back into the game for the last 3 years.

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Originally Posted by Daranion

Yep, there has definitely been more relegated. What still concerns me was their comment about reinvesting for "the first time" The implication being the profits haven't gone back into the game for the last 3 years.

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The assumption most people have is that profits from XIV were mostly being funneled into the development of XV. Now that XV is out SE doesn't have to keep dumping money into it, and can dump some of that money back into XIV.

Or pour it in KH3 or FFVII:R. But that's just cynicism speaking

When did SE first announce the cash shop thing? Their stock took a bad hit in May of 2014 according to Reuters so I was curious if it might be related.

It's hard to say what they do with the cash shop money exactly. They're not very transparent about finances and they're involved in a lot of other things that wouldn't really catch much attention in the west. Like Dragon Quest is a really big thing for them domestically but it's pretty obscure in the US compared to other jrpg titles. They do a lot of physical book publishing too and that's a shaky market right now.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

Indeed, and there's a lot of semantic difference between saying something will be higher and saying something will be a magnitude higher. A 'magnitude higher' infers a great deal more than simply saying something is or will be higher.

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Keep in mind there's several layers of translations going on here.

First, there's what actually happened at SE. Its safe to assume Yoshi knows the numbers but also that he's not allowed to say them. Its also safe to assume Yoshi is going to hype what he can. I'm sure Yoshi chose his words carefully to be both vague and get people interested.
Second, you have the translator interpreting what Yoshi said.
Third, you have the note takers interpreting what the translator meant and writing everything down quickly so they don't miss much.
Fourth, you have the internet...

From my understanding of how things work, a magnitude higher may be as little as 25% more. Doubling it would be a crazy high increase and you can bet SE would be flooding the market with ads about it to increase the chance of recouping their investment. I'd guess "magnitude" comes from the translator, not Yoshi. if it did come from Yoshi I'd question if its a relative statement; going from a 10% planned increase to 25% could be considered a magnitude higher increase. But thats just personal conjecture.

There's also doubt about where that budget is going. I won't pretend to know how SE or Yoshi budgets things but its quite possible the NA data center is included in the FF14 budget instead of the greater SE budget. That could easily take up most of the increase in budget leaving development funding similar to HW. I really wouldn't expect anything much different than HW in terms of scope or quality.

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Originally Posted by Alien_Gamer

Keep in mind there's several layers of translations going on here.
**snip**

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Not only are there layers of translation on Yoshida's actual remarks, but your entire reply is littered with qualifiers and vague language.

It figures as soon as I let this thread fall off we get another triple budget post.