"Can we monitize this?"
is a question any business should be asking. Its also been stated that cash shop sales go back into game dev and resources, and if their honest about this, then I'm all for it. The cash shop model is more or less here to stay, not just for FFXIV, but games in general. What works for a business model in 1999 no longer works in 2014, and market forces have to evolve to survive, or die. The reality is while sub fees are still more or less the same for mmos for the last 15 years, the resources to make and maintain these games are several times higher. That extra resource needs to come from somewhere.