"If WOW ever goes completely free-to-play, maybe we will consider it." Naoki Yoshida

So there is a new interview with Naoki Yoshida and one of the things that is asked is how Final fantasy will compete with The Elder Scrolls Online.

Here is the full interview

http://www.pangamers.com/gaming/fina...g/#comment-594.

Just in case anyone reads the thread title and immediately assumes the worst... He laughed when he said that. He also talks about the benefits of having a subscription and notes that most of the XIV playerbase is supportive of the sub model.

Now this is the interesting part.

"PSLS: Have you taken, or are you going to take any steps to respond to some of the upcoming changes in the MMO market, such as with Elder Scrolls Online, which is now coming to consoles and moving to a free-to-play model?

NY: No, we do not feel that we are being influenced by that kind of model shift. Especially with an MMORPG, it is a kind of a game as a service, where we are kind of almost in the service industry."

Cont..

"Say you are in the restaurant business and you own a steakhouse, and you see another competitive steakhouse that a popular feature or some other element that draws people in, of course you would have to look at what they are doing and they are keeping their quality of meats, and what they do in terms of service. In that same respect, we do look at the other MMO titles that are out there and do some research on what they do and have, Elder Scrolls Online included. But, for FFXIV and the players that belong to the world of Eorzea, we feel that we don’t need to put things in that are not necessary for that game."

cont..

Use the actual interview link here: http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/...ting/#/slide/1

Andd.... No, you're looking into it too much. The line before:

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we don’t believe that FFXIV needs to shift in that direction and not everything that other competitors or titles do will necessarily apply to our title.

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Also, I'm pretty sure YoshiP said that as a joke, as he laughed straight afterwards, hence the "(laughs)". A lot of people in the MMORPG community are known to compare FFXIV very strongly with WoW and the fact Yoshida himself has said he drew inspiration from great MMORPG titles (such as WoW) for ARR... Yeah. It's a joke.

"So, just because ESO moved into a free-to-play subscription model, it doesn’t necessarily mean for us to move into that direction as well. Also, for use we have taken player surveys and took a look at what our customer satisfaction level is and we actually garnered data that shows that over 80% of our players are satisfied with the subscription model and they feel very assured that it is a constant. You are safe to be in that environment, and you know that you can expect a decent amount of updates and content. So, we don’t believe that FFXIV needs to shift in that direction and not everything that other competitors or titles do will necessarily apply to our title.

If WOW ever goes completely free-to-play, maybe we will consider it. (Laughs)"

Why is it always steak? I mean, really;

http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/20/807...eo-games-steak

(Also, OP, you can get around the character limit by editing your original response so you don't have to keep replying to yourself to say everything you want to say.)

So, uh, can you make the title any more click-bait like? @.@

You know the interview he adds a laugh at the end of that, as well as discusses the benefits of F2P and subscription. I'm also pretty sure Yoshi-P is quite aware of the stigma that XIV copies WoW quite a lot.

Oh, wait, you just quoted that bit. Not sure what you're aiming for anymore @.@

Also off topic why is there such a small word posting limit on these forums.\

Having to make 4 different posts because of the word limit is a pain...

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Originally Posted by FJerome

Why is it always steak? I mean, really;

http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/20/807...eo-games-steak

(Also, OP, you can get around the character limit by editing your original response so you don't have to keep replying to yourself to say everything you want to say.)

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You can??

I wish I had know that before...

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Originally Posted by lorel

Now this is the interesting part.

"PSLS: Have you taken, or are you going to take any steps to respond to some of the upcoming changes in the MMO market, such as with Elder Scrolls Online, which is now coming to consoles and moving to a free-to-play model?

NY: No, we do not feel that we are being influenced by that kind of model shift. Especially with an MMORPG, it is a kind of a game as a service, where we are kind of almost in the service industry."

Cont..

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For Square-Enix, this dynamic was fully realized during the life of FFXI. The North American launch broguht us FFXI, and as far as I know, the whole launch of Rise of Zilart with it. In the subsequent expansions, content was released on a more gradual basis. I recall there being a survey of sorts being sent out to the player base, to determine whether we preferred out updates in big expansions, or continued over a period of time, and the resounding feedback was gradual over time. Less noticeable in Sea, but more so in Treasures of Aht Urghan, and especially in Wings of the Goddess, the patches rolled out in updates, the same way that FFXIV does now.

The part I have trouble with now, is justifying the cost of a new expansion, based on the above model. Ultimately, on day 1, content release, The Expansion needs to have enoug content already in place to justify the full cost of the expansion. Including complete story line. Our Subscription fees ten pay to support continued development as well as support/maintenance for the lifespan of the currect version of the game.

by the same token, I am interested in what Square-Enix's view is, on paying subscribers for the curent version that do not buy the expansion. Will there be development time on content that they will still be able to access, or will there money be used purely for maintenance costs only? Do they intend to budget with a reflection of the playerbase at all?

I pose these questions, knowing full well I am buying a CE of heavensward for the physical goodies. As long as the price isn't tooooooo much. (given that Yoshi said it'ls going to be expensive, I'm expecting around $200+. Prohibitively expensive compared to most CE's, but filled with tonnes more stuff, which is the kind of thing I've been looking for, from SE)

So it's basically the MMO equivalent of "when hell freezes over".

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Originally Posted by SpiritMuse

So it's basically the MMO equivalent of "when hell freezes over".

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Pretty much XD

I mean... it seems a lot of people are hoping for Yoshi/other industry people to take an ideological stance ("F2P is bad!"), but the producer of this game actually seems like a very rational person. F2P is unlikely in XIV because the F2P business model doesn't suit the game as well as the subscription business model. And from that interview... Yeah, Yoshi doesn't talk in absolutes, but my take away was it would take a huge shift for XIV to go F2P.

I dont think SE has much to worry about with ESO. Its still pretty bland and gets boring extremely quick even with the 1.6 update. That said, its still a good idea to stay one step ahead of them.

FFXIV doesnt have to compete with ESO...

FFXIV got 5x the membership of ESO....

ESO needs to get on FFXIV's level.

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Originally Posted by SpiritMuse

So it's basically the MMO equivalent of "when hell freezes over".

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More like when hell freezes over they might think about it.

You should work at buzzfeed with that talent of making clickbait title

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Originally Posted by lorel

how Final fantasy will compete with The Elder Scrolls Online.

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It doesn't need to.

I played ESO, alongside FFXIV, for a while at launch. ESO was extremely buggy, still does have quite a number of bugs too I gather. Very little real content has been added.

Zenimax Online have also proven to be a horrid company who pay no regard to its loyal players and have no idea of how to manage a sub model in the current market (hence they took the easy option of switching from that model).

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Originally Posted by SgtPepperUK

It doesn't need to.

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While XIV does have a very strong lead over many competitors, they would be fools to ignore what they're doing and not take tips from any that might be diamonds in the rough. Even a really cruddy game might have a good idea or two.

Which, from the interview, that sounds exactly like what they're doing: keeping tabs on the industry, but keeping their own identity too.

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Originally Posted by SgtPepperUK

It doesn't need to.

I played ESO, alongside FFXIV, for a while at launch. ESO was extremely buggy, still does have quite a number of bugs too I gather. Very little real content has been added.

Zenimax Online have also proven to be a horrid company who pay no regard to its loyal players and have no idea of how to manage a sub model in the current market (hence they took the easy option of switching from that model).

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Bugs arnt even an issue. The game itself is such a snorefest. Its like junk food. Good for like 5 minutes and short intervals, but really bad if you go on any longer.

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Originally Posted by Lilyarel

Bugs arnt even an issue. The game itself is such a snorefest. Its like junk food. Good for like 5 minutes and short intervals, but really bad if you go on any longer.

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ESO did however have a plethora of emotes. That's probably the only thing I liked about it.

What I want to know is this survey he talks about where he said 80% of players didn't want the game to go free to play.

Did they really do this survey? I never got one to fill out did anyone else?

This title is rather misleading. If anyone cares to read the piece and did not skip reading comprehension class, you'll read that he understands other companies going this direction but that it is not needed for FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by abzoluut

This title is rather misleading. If anyone cares to read the piece and did not skip reading comprehension class, you'll read that he understands other companies going this direction but that it is not needed for FFXIV.

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Really? In a few months everybody will go and pay $40 for access to bunch of new areas and classes that can't otherwise be accessed. Many will also pay an additional $30 for the "collector's edition" will will contain mounts, minions, and other goodies in game that can not otherwise be obtained by other means. It'll probably also include a Fantasia so you don't have to spend $10 for a Fantasia to change your character to the new race that's included.

Oh... and look at the money people spent on Ceremony of the Eternal Bond? Sure there's a free version. but most couples seem to be willing to pay $40 ($20 each) for the premium version.

So why can't F2P work with FFXIV? Who wants to spend $40 on a game that works only for 30 days unless you commit to a monthly subscription fee? Oh yeah, beside us fools?

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Originally Posted by lorel

So there is a new interview with Naoki Yoshida and one of the things that is asked is how Final fantasy will compete with The Elder Scrolls Online.

Here is the full interview

http://www.pangamers.com/gaming/fina...g/#comment-594.

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I don't think the Final Fantasy series has anything to worry about. It's been around for 28 years, so it has a huge fan-base and seems to always be in the top 5 on popular mmo gaming sites. FFXI is a great game with tons of features, and is just fun to play :)

For FFXI - I think the only thing they need to do aside from adding regular expansions is keep it's look modernized by updating character skin textures and the in game lighting to stay competitive with the newer mmos coming out like Bless, and Black Desert. Other than that - the game is awesome.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

So why can't F2P work with FFXIV? Who wants to spend $40 on a game that works only for 30 days unless you commit to a monthly subscription fee? Oh yeah, beside us fools?

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And all of WoW's subscription base. It's worth noting that the argument (I'm paying you monthly, why am I paying for the expac) makes sense and I agree that it's lame to have to do so. You can bet that when EQNext comes out, it'll try this model too, at least at first, just like ESO and SWtoR.

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Originally Posted by lorel

What I want to know is this survey he talks about where he said 80% of players didn't want the game to go free to play.

Did they really do this survey? I never got one to fill out did anyone else?

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It was a secret survey held by the Anti-F2P Society. Shhhh... we can't talk about it. :p



Edit:

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Originally Posted by Cutie_McSnuggles

Is it so hard to believe that there are some people who actually like the security of the P2P model? There are hundreds of F2P games out there for people who want them, however there are very few P2P games anymore.

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That was meant entirely as a joke. I prefer the P2P sub model myself.

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Originally Posted by Teryaani

And all of WoW's subscription base. It's worth noting that the argument (I'm paying you monthly, why am I paying for the expac) makes sense and I agree that it's lame to have to do so. You can bet that when EQNext comes out, it'll try this model too, at least at first, just like ESO and SWtoR.

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And there is also FFXI that is still running on a P2P model. THAT game will go free to play before FFXIV ever will.

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Originally Posted by Elleoille

It was a secret survey held by the Anti-F2P Society. Shhhh... we can't talk about it. :p

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Is it so hard to believe that there are some people who actually like the security of the P2P model? There are hundreds of F2P games out there for people who want them, however there are very few P2P games anymore.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

So why can't F2P work with FFXIV? Who wants to spend $40 on a game that works only for 30 days unless you commit to a monthly subscription fee? Oh yeah, beside us fools?

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People who want quality with their content?

Free to play games almost universally have one of two major issues. Either they have very few and far between updates, and these updates also tend to be rather small. Or they have moderate updates, but force a pay-to-win lifestyle from their players. The downside with the latter is you have a few wealthier players essentially paying for the gameplay of the larger 'free' playerbase. That means the game caters more for the buyers, and as a result the game becomes heavily weighted in their favour one way or another.

Free to play has been the death of more good games than I care to mention, and it would utterly ruin FFXIV if it went that way. Be glad you're paying a subscription, because it means they can release content which matters to us.

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Originally Posted by Laraul

So why can't F2P work with FFXIV? Who wants to spend $40 on a game that works only for 30 days unless you commit to a monthly subscription fee? Oh yeah, beside us fools?

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Yes, let's turn FFXIV into utter trash like all the other F2P failures. Those MMOs didn't go F2P cause there was no money to be made with P2P. They turned F2P because they were failures and had to quickly recoup losses and payback investors.

f2p = poor support, 1-2 years for quality content patches, ages 8-17

Although Blizzard have said they will unlikely go F2P with WoW as it would mean redesigning a lot of the game which would be a huge undertaking, they do plan to make their next MMO free to play.

I personally prefer subscription mmos they have more content and it is released much quicker.

F2P and WoW's 8-bit NES graphics are what has destroyed the MMO genre.

F2P means 'Pay 2 Win' no matter how they try to sell it. Some devs are just more creative on why it takes a few hundred dollars to obtain some in-game BiS item.

I'll just leave MMO's if I run out of subscription options. It's bad enough I considered WoW before FFXIV.

Free to play will be my last day in Eorzia.

Even if YoshiP was joking, it's a sound statement. People cry about people following WOW, but when something succeeds so strongly, it's kind of hard not to. And with WOW still being the staple in MMO success, if it were to go F2P, it's sure to create a ripple. But then again WoW isnt XIV or Elder Scrolls Online, and clearly the developer knows this.

That said, I think above all YoshiP is a lover of games himself. The way he talks about it, i highly doubt this game will be going F2P. No self-respecting MMO player wants an F2P game.

Free to play attracts the worst of the mmo community. Sure we have a fair number of bad apples, but compared to free to play games? lol...try playing the average joe f2p out there. Think of it this way, a troll will just keep on making an account in a f2p over and over just to screw with whoever they are trolling. In a subscription, they will think twice because if they get banned, it's not worth paying another 40 bucks just to troll a person. In my opinion. SE is right keeping this game as a subscription game. I think I heard somewhere that Yoshi said that he would rather shut the game down than go free to be play but don't quote me on that.

I think this game is completely worth the monthly fee based on all the content we regularly get. Free to play games typically aren't too great, especially community wise.

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Originally Posted by Jinko

Although Blizzard have said they will unlikely go F2P with WoW as it would mean redesigning a lot of the game which would be a huge undertaking, they do plan to make their next MMO free to play.

I personally prefer subscription mmos they have more content and it is released much quicker.

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Blizzard scraped the new MMO they had been working on for close to ten years...

It was called Titan.

They reused some of the assets from the game and turned it into a FPS called Overwatch. So much fail what a waste...

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Originally Posted by Magis

Yes, let's turn FFXIV into utter trash like all the other F2P failures. Those MMOs didn't go F2P cause there was no money to be made with P2P. They turned F2P because they were failures and had to quickly recoup losses and payback investors.

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What about the F2P success stories? Like World of Tanks and Destiny. Hmm? If a F2P failed, it was because it was a BAD GAME to begin with. Not because it wasn't P2P.

F2P haters' gonna hate. Easy to blame things on a label. Hard to back it up w/ facts though.