This is just echo-chambering for a non-issue.

Subscriptions are on the rise, not on the decline, as illustrated in interviews, that we've reached 1.8 million active subscriptions. Players leave and join the game continually, so it is expected that there are tales of people who have had their circle of friends quit.


The problem lies not within the game at this point. Revolving door subscriptions are the nature of the beast and FFXI was absolutely no stranger to them during their 10 year hay-day. Just about everyone needed to be on the soap box on how they or some group close to them quit, yet the subscription numbers were continually stable overall.

Here, we're still trending upwards at over triple FFXI's peak subscription numbers, and still record-setting above any Japanese-origin MMO ever made.

I do realize World of Warcraft and other modern gimmicky MMOs have inflated subscription number expectations for success in the eyes of the western audience, but let's be clear here - we have likely doubled SE's marker for success on this game. And we're still trending upwards.