So SE has officially stated their MMO profits have tanked.

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Originally Posted by Rein_eon_Osborne

Good. They deserve this.

Now hurry up do a U-Turn and put back those money into the game rather than funding Yoshi-P's new spellspeed ring to show in next Live Letter. If struggling is what they need to make the game a bundle of joy to play again, then so be it.

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This right here is the real elephant in the room in my opinion.

The game could be so much more if they actually put more of the monies it generates back into the game. It's the definition of stupidity for them to outright acknowledge that FFXIV is their most popular, reliable, product.... and then do the bare minimum to maintain it.

In fact, it's disappointing that they didn't make any attempt to future proof the game (financially) during Covid because the positive impact it had on gaming was never going to last indefinitely.

It turns out, much to the surprised of everyone I'm sure, that if you just funnel money into bad projects you lose money.

Their best releases have been remakes and remasters, everything new pretty much flops and probably the best they can hope for is things breaking even. Partially because they think people just don't want the RPGs of ye olden days but everything has to be more of an action game... Because THAT worked so well for FF 15, and FF 16... And they also keep hiring consultants to sabotage their games.

All their financials troubles are of their own making, they deserve them.

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Originally Posted by Pimsan20

I just hope 14 can rebound after this. I really like the game even with it's flaws.

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Agreed, same!

At the end of the day, even with my criticisms it's all love, ya dig.

I want Yoshida-san to succeed, I want CBU3 to succeed, I want Final Fantasy XIV to succeed.

When they're succeeding, it means we're getting great content. When they're succeeding, we're regularly getting new blood in the playerbase. When they're succeeding it means we're continuing to have a game we love to login to day-in day-out, week-in week-out, month-in month-out, year-in year-out.

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

It turns out, much to the surprised of everyone I'm sure, that if you just funnel money into bad projects you lose money.

Their best releases have been remakes and remasters, everything new pretty much flops and probably the best they can hope for is things breaking even. Partially because they think people just don't want the RPGs of ye olden days but everything has to be more of an action game... Because THAT worked so well for FF 15, and FF 16... And they also keep hiring consultants to sabotage their games.

All their financials troubles are of their own making, they deserve them.

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"Turn-based RPGs don't have a place in today's market" says the company that keeps reselling its old turn-based RPGs, and we can't forget about the sales of their action games versus a random French RPG mimicking old JRPGs.

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Originally Posted by Pimsan20

I just hope 14 can rebound after this. I really like the game even with it's flaws. It helped me during Covid.

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I'm not sure whether it's because a new patched launched very recently, but - speaking in terms of my experience - I've had quite a few instances running roulettes where the team was mostly Sprouts who seemed genuinely new to the game. Heck, I had 'Final Steps of Faith' pop in roulette this morning and, after we'd defeated angrywyrm there were four sprouts discussing how awesome they thought the trial and story leading up to it was.

I guess there is something to be said for the fact that some 'veterans' of the game may not be happy with recent offerings but the game does still seem to be attracting some new blood.

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

[...] they think people just don't want the RPGs of ye olden days but everything has to be more of an action game... Because THAT worked so well for FF 15, and FF 16... And they also keep hiring consultants to sabotage their games.

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With the new fight design they even try to turn FF14 into an action RPG. They hollowed out the job mechanics and replaced them with the DDR fight mechanics and visual cues. But this isn't Monster Hunter or Dark Souls and they are alienating their casual playerbase with it.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

I'm not sure whether it's because a new patched launched very recently, but - speaking in terms of my experience - I've had quite a few instances running roulettes where the team was mostly Sprouts who seemed genuinely new to the game. Heck, I had 'Final Steps of Faith' pop in roulette this morning and, after we'd defeated angrywyrm there were four sprouts discussing how awesome they thought the trial and story leading up to it was.

I guess there is something to be said for the fact that some 'veterans' of the game may not be happy with recent offerings but the game does still seem to be attracting some new blood.

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Oh it is, and let me tell you, those players are just as happy with the game as people used to be back in Heavensward and other expansions where people were way more positive. There is no shortage of these sprouts, either, you've just met the tip of the iceberg there.

But they are just a percentage of a larger pie at the end of the day. They and returners have been masking anyone that leaves for quite a long time so that it doesn't reflect statistically.

The problems Square Enix has now gotten itself into with Dawntrail are critical. If you look at the latest Lucky Bancho (from July 25, 2025), it looks more like the numbers will continue to decline.

The mistakes were clearly made at the management level of SE and CBU3, and the fact that no one told Daichi Hiori that a character like Wuk Lamat wouldn't work raises some questions for me.

Added to this is the problem that, assuming 7.4 comes in December 2025 and 7.5 in April 2025, 8.0 could not come until December 2026 at the earliest. I very much doubt that 7.4 and 7.5 will manage to offset the subscription numbers (perhaps minimally).

I'm curious to see if CBU3 can turn things around again. In my opinion, they missed an opportunity to release XIV-2 towards the end when Endwalker was released.

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Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

I'm not sure whether it's because a new patched launched very recently, but - speaking in terms of my experience - I've had quite a few instances running roulettes where the team was mostly Sprouts who seemed genuinely new to the game. Heck, I had 'Final Steps of Faith' pop in roulette this morning and, after we'd defeated angrywyrm there were four sprouts discussing how awesome they thought the trial and story leading up to it was.

I guess there is something to be said for the fact that some 'veterans' of the game may not be happy with recent offerings but the game does still seem to be attracting some new blood.

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I totally agree. I also have sprouts on the regular in my roulettes and some of them also mentionhow awesome this game is! I can confirm. Problem is that the current discourse of this game is almost completely dominated by veteran players who have already finished everything in the game and who put in propably 1000-2000 hours. Sometimes those veteran voices drown out all the people which are still going through the story and enjoy it.

Seeing sprouts every time i do Duty Roulette makes me hopeful, because even though compared to other MMOs, this game at least still attracts new people.

With other MMOs I play I don't even know the last time I saw or connected with a new player, because the only "new" characters I often see are alts from veterans.

This is deserved, but I don't think it will change anything.... It's a one-trick-pony game design, and indicative of their own self-admitted poor leadership, I frankly don't even think it can be course corrected since it would basically require overhauling patch cadence and deviating from Excel spreadsheet design.

8.0 will feed the same, as will 9.0 feed the same, as will 10.0 feed the same, the only difference being you'll see more aggressive use of the Mogstation.

That's my prediction.