Microtransactions are here to stay. And they are a good thing.

[Giantbane]

That doesn't concern me in the slightest. If they want to put up a horse or a random minion, or god forbid, a bloody dress, for 5 pounds, then they can. If I like it and can afford it, I'll buy it. If I don't like it or can't afford it, I won't buy it. Then I'll move on with my life. Are you telling me that I should not buy things like this because less fortunate people cannot afford them? Is that what you are honestly telling me? What a completely absurd notion.

You said that a person spending money does not effect others and it's not true whether it concerns you or not. In this case it's not necessarily "envy" that's motivating some to be derogatory toward those who are encouraging SE to go down a path that they find to be a problem (cash shop). If nobody used the cash shop, then it wouldn't exist and nobody would question whether the cash shop content is truly extra or whether the base game is being held back in some way to encourage use of the cash shop. Or whether SE is actually going to stick to their word and that the cash shop will only be used for trivial items and won't start toeing the line with P2W items.

Personally I don't care about the current cash shop offerings, but I'm a little annoyed at where they're getting some of the content. To draw a clear line between what is part of the base game and what is premium content, it would have been preferable to limit cash shop to obvious external offerings. Someone earlier mentioned that material from other FF's would fit the bill. If they're offering things like a Cloud haircut, FFXIII's Odin mount, Vivi as a minion or whatever then that's stuff that's not part of the FFXIV universe and clearly "extra". However when they take something like FFXIV's Odin mount, which for all intents and purposes already existed in the game and then slap a premium price on it they're starting to muddy the waters a bit, regardless of whether I actually care about the content or not. It's not too much of a concern *now* but is it going to stay that way? They're already starting to push it a little further with the weddings.

The weddings, even though I have absolutely no interest in this content in the slightest, have been promoted as part of the game for months, with some of the "premium" offerings being touted as part of it (like the mount). Although it's all going to come down to how satisfactory the base content is for those who were looking forward to this feature. If the base offerings feel to bare bones as if to encourage the purchase of premium offerings, then it's a problem because then it looks like they're skimping on content to get people into the cash shop. So at this point it's just wait and see how it pans out.

Triple Triad is coming out for the mobile APP that SE is releasing. That is where you play the game. That game simply will link up to FFXIV, where we will also be able to play the game. So you actually won't be playing a monthly payment for Triple Triad at all. Most people don't seem to understand this for some reason.

I hadn't seen anything to that effect, but that makes more sense to have paid booster packs if it's a standalone application that can be played for free.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

You said that a person spending money does not effect others and it's not true whether it concerns you or not. In this case it's not necessarily "envy" that's motivating some to be derogatory toward those who are encouraging SE to go down a path that they find to be a problem (cash shop). If nobody used the cash shop, then it wouldn't exist and nobody would question whether the cash shop content is truly extra or whether the base game is being held back in some way to encourage use of the cash shop. Or whether SE is actually going to stick to their word and that the cash shop will only be used for trivial items and won't start toeing the line with P2W items.

Personally I don't care about the current cash shop offerings, but I'm a little annoyed at where they're getting some of the content. To draw a clear line between what is part of the base game and what is premium content, it would have been preferable to limit cash shop to obvious external offerings. Someone earlier mentioned that material from other FF's would fit the bill. If they're offering things like a Cloud haircut, FFXIII's Odin mount, Vivi as a minion or whatever then that's stuff that's not part of the FFXIV universe and clearly "extra". However when they take something like FFXIV's Odin mount, which for all intents and purposes already existed in the game and then slap a premium price on it they're starting to muddy the waters a bit, regardless of whether I actually care about the content or not. It's not too much of a concern *now* but is it going to stay that way? They're already starting to push it a little further with the weddings.

The weddings, even though I have absolutely no interest in this content in the slightest, have been promoted as part of the game for months, with some of the "premium" offerings being touted as part of it (like the mount). Although it's all going to come down to how satisfactory the base content is for those who were looking forward to this feature. If the base offerings feel to bare bones as if to encourage the purchase of premium offerings, then it's a problem because then it looks like they're skimping on content to get people into the cash shop. So at this point it's just wait and see how it pans out.

The problem is, how can you say that they did not plan for that all along? The problem is, no one truly knows. Yet people are making these tinfoil hat worthy theories to suit their own view. And then they try to act condensing towards others for spending money they earned. If someone wants to buy all this, it's up to them. Not anyone else. You can complain about them making a market for these sort of things and you're right.

But that's the thing. People vote with their wallet. There are more people that want these than more than those that don't. Money speaks. And it's speaking Micro transactions. And people that want them aren't stupid. I've seen the rise and fall of too many MMOs and I've seen the patterns. Yet, currently, micro-transactions are simply the way forward. Much akin to the "casualisation" of content. I didn't like that, but understood that is simlpy, business plan speaking, the way forward. It is what makes most money and it is what people simply want.

I hadn't seen anything to that effect, but that makes more sense to have paid booster packs if it's a standalone application that can be played for free.

It wasn't a jab at you, but people don't seem to remember it to be honest. I'll post a link.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=935029
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...in-2015/.81160


There. I don't doubt however, that people will complain that Triple Triad will cost money for booster packs. It'll happen.

[giantslayer]

This game, based on its own subscription numbers, generates more income and profit then it needs to sustain itself. The company without the game, however does not. In fact if you look at SE's own consolidated statement of cash flows for its past physical year and you see its cash and cash equivalents actually increased by 14,865 million yen. Meaning that since FFXIV came out SE put roughly 123,354,000 US dollars in the "bank" (as you say they don't) and increased it's cash on hand. While for the same period, according to their statement of income, investment and salaries (for developers and others) were relatively flat. Funny thing is SE actually paid more in dividends to investors for the year than it spent increasing investment in infrastructure and personnel.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/finance/cf.html

Thank you for such an excellent, factual post. It reminds me of being in investment classes in college.

I would like to point out that the more money SE has in the bank, the farther it is from bankruptcy. Some of you may not remember the Final Fantasy movie. It was a huge flop that put SE on the brink financially. A lot of fans were genuinely worried for a number of years.

It takes a lot of money to make a game nowadays. SE needs a pile of cash from successful past games to continue operating smoothly and to be able to develop future games. I for one am glad that SE is making money and that the Final Fantasy franchise will continue for the foreseeable future.

While I would also like to see more of the subscription dollars from FF14 reinvested into development, I would rather see them pile money into the bank than bleed red ink. Don't get me wrong: I am not a fan of the cash shop and despise pay to win, if God forbid it ever goes that direction. I just want to offer an alternative perspective to "they are so greedy! They make plenty of money already! The money they make on 14 should go back into 14!"

[Thistledown]

If I may do a silly QQ, I would like to claim that people who are against cash shop ruined my chance at Windup Nanamo being ever placed in the cash shop, hence 2 years out of my reach.

You cold-hearted mustards, you went ahead and made it subscription exclusive T_T

[Arkine]

If I may do a silly QQ, I would like to claim that people who are against cash shop ruined my chance at Windup Nanamo being ever placed in the cash shop, hence 2 years out of my reach.

You cold-hearted mustards, you went ahead and made it subscription exclusive T_T

Buy a bunch of time cards and just start putting them in until you get the days needed to get the minion!

There ya go, that's just like buying it from the shop, only more convoluted and probably more expensive.

[Jeckyl_Tesla]

If I may do a silly QQ, I would like to claim that people who are against cash shop ruined my chance at Windup Nanamo being ever placed in the cash shop, hence 2 years out of my reach.

You cold-hearted mustards, you went ahead and made it subscription exclusive T_T

I'm with you on this. I was looking incredibly forward to this. So, so forward.

I demand this to be put into the cash shop!

I will pay 100 pounds for this!

[TurnBased]

It's getting harder to justify the monthly fee now...

People hate on the game for being P2P, I tell them that the game has no cash shop. Can't use that argument anymore...

[giantslayer]

Funny thing is SE actually paid more in dividends to investors for the year than it spent increasing investment in infrastructure and personnel.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/finance/cf.html

I just spent some time going over the financials in there. I got my bachelor's with a major in Finance and a minor in accounting, so I understand what's in there and find it fascinating.

The mention of dividends is a bit unfair. If you understand the culture and expectations of investors and corporations, dividends are expected from most companies and are a sign of health for a corporation. Increasing dividend payouts is regarded as a positive sign, and decreasing is regarded as a troubling sign. Fact is SE's dividend of 30 yen per share has stayed the same for the last 4 years. They actually decreased it from 35 yen to 30 in 2011.

If you look at their net income, aka the "bottom line," over the last 5 years, SE has actually had a net loss of close to 4 billion yen. I don't blame them for keeping a good chunk of their profits in the bank in a major game release year.

Then again, these were annual financial statements from March, so they aren't the most current. I bet the remainder of 2014 was good for SE.

[Aphel]

Not sure if anyone has linked it yet, but here's WoW's cash shop. Exorbitant prices on there but millions are still playing it.

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/produc...mounts%2Chelms

[Arkine]

Not sure if anyone has linked it yet, but here's WoW's cash shop. Exorbitant prices on there but millions are still playing it.

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/produc...mounts%2Chelms

As long as nothing but mounts and minions get added to the cash shop, I'm ok.

Some people's line in the sand is P2W, mine is equipment, regardless of stats, because that's what I play the game to collect.