Square Enix Hates Viral Marketing

[Laifon]

Sometimes.. I feel that just a single person is operating the game..

[Gravehill]

3) It is technically against ToS to post videos of FFXIV with any outside music (i.e. not from FFXIV). I imagine the other videos you posted would get takedown notices for similar reasons if they got enough views for legal to find them.

4) From a business and marketing standpoint, any fan-made video that does not generate additional revenue (sales, subscriptions, etc.) can potentially hurt your message. Until you provide hard data about how your fan-made video convinced X number of people to purchase the game, the video is fair game for takedown. YouTube and Twitch streamers like MrHappy did this and thus convinced Square Enix to change their streaming/online video content rules to allow them to post their videos.

#3 shouldn't be against the ToS, #4 is really grasping at straws. It would have to be a SERIOUSLY negative video to hurt sales. 9.9 times out of 10 it can only help, or at least break even. I work in marketing

EDIT: if you don't believe me, consider the fact that miley cyrus is the most successful musical act of the year. Bland and boring absolutely does not make it to the top. Almost any publicity is good publicity

[Babydoll]

Wow are they serious? People love silly humor..and that's exactly what that video was. I showed it to my friend yesterday and he was dying laughing...he also bought the game right after and is going to play today.

Reallllly stupid move SE. I am disappoint.

[Orophin]

#3 shouldn't be against the ToS,

Whether you think it shouldn't or not doesn't matter. It's listed in the ToS and has also been explicitly stated in numerous posts by the devs that due to the copyrights the game falls under, you're not allowed to alter the music while showing recorded footage.

[Tupsi]

#3 shouldn't be against the ToS, #4 is really grasping at straws. It would have to be a SERIOUSLY negative video to hurt sales. 9.9 times out of 10 it can only help, or at least break even. I work in marketing

EDIT: if you don't believe me, consider the fact that miley cyrus is the most successful musical act of the year. Bland and boring absolutely does not make it to the top. Almost any publicity is good publicity

You shouldn't have clicked: "I accept" then in order to play the game, fyi.

[Gravehill]

Whether you think it shouldn't or not doesn't matter. It's listed in the ToS and has also been explicitly stated in numerous posts by the devs that due to the copyrights the game falls under, you're not allowed to alter the music while showing recorded footage.

Uhh in a conversation about whether or not we think this is a good move... I'm pretty sure what we think is the only thing that matters. Or are you implying that we're not even allowed to discuss things that are mentioned in the ToS? Lets just start burning books while we're at it I guess

[coffeeking]

support.

Bad or good publicity, does it really matter? there are Always haters for everything.

[Tupsi]

Uhh in a conversation about whether or not we think this is a good move... I'm pretty sure what we think is the only thing that matters. Or are you implying that we're not even allowed to discuss things that are mentioned in the ToS? Lets just start burning books while we're at it I guess

Well since you're playing FFXIV ARR you kind of agreed to the terms lol. You hit "Decline" or "Don't Agree" if you find it bad.

[EzriNuru]

Really to bad, I would have enjoyed watching the video.

[Cluebilly]

Gotta admit I'm a bit disappointed in SE regarding this too, When videos like that get taken down, sometimes I wonder if companies have any sense of humor at all.