Thinking this game is a bad investment

[inimicus]

So I went to check the numbers and FFXIV has 26% of WoW's server capacity (64 to 246) and 9% (500k) to 18% (1m) of their subs (5.6m Q2 2015). Server cost to subscriber ratio is actually almost three times worse with FFXIV in the worst case. Then there's also wages and taxes and million other things.

No doubt it's making a profit, because there probably wouldn't never have been an expansion and real euro servers otherwise, but I've never liked the "subs x monthly fee = gazillions of profit" logic.

Two things:
1. Comparing server capacity between two MMOs without official numbers is probably fruitless. We don't know what hardware they run on, and we don't know what they do. We have no idea how much money they each cost.
Of course, if they ever both said those specifications, then we'd be able to do something, but I don't believe that is the case here.
2. Subnumbers aren't a thing. We know nothing about subnumbers apart from very (mostly optimistic) estimates by people. What they announce was registered, once-paying or still-paying, accounts.
That is, as far as I know. Please correct me if we know otherwise.

Personally, I'd be suprised if FFXIV had more than ~300k subscribers at this time, roughly extrapolated from Alex NM clear numbers at the Eorzea Census 2015:

I'd wager that there are about ~200k. That's just me guessing though, so I won't make up my mind about these topics and their profit with that.

[Mature]

this game is one of the best things that happened to me. I personally finish games in matter of days (no I don't rush thru them I get everything that is left from them apart from big rpgs) , then I have nothing to play until a new game comes out. While this happens I can carry on playing this to keep me occupied plus I enjoy it! so it IS a good investment for me

[Iris_BP]

I'd wager that there are about ~200k. That's just me guessing though, so I won't make up my mind about these topics and their profit with that.

Well, to be honest not everyone is interested in raids, there are dedicated crafters, there are RPers and just people who don't like raid environment, especially in a DF. But it will amount to 20-25% maximum, so yeah, 300k+ or something around that, maybe a little more.

On a side note, players crying SO HARD about housing reclamation... The rivers of tears all over the forums, sometimes I feel like Im in an attorney's office, really. There are countless threads here, countless messages on reddit. What is wrong with people?

[inimicus]

Well, to be honest not everyone is interested in raids, there are dedicated crafters, there are RPers and just people who don't like raid environment, especially in a DF. But it will amount to 20-25% maximum, so yeah, 300k+ or something around that, maybe a little more.

True. But Alex NM is something that almost everyone who is active will have at least tried, imho. At the time when the Census was released, I guessed there to be ~300k subscribers. 250k Alex NM clears + Crafters + RPers + People who joined with HW + People who were still leveling + etc. ~= 300k. Maybe 350k.
With people reporting that people are leaving everywhere, a drop of 50k-100k seems to be expected, especially since, apparently, a lot of people have been following the "sub for patching, play content, unsub till next patch" rotation.
Still, my point is that their income (not to even speak of their profits) are guaranteed to be less than what people have been throwing around in places (ex. the Housing Reclamation announced thread).
I think the highest I saw there was 5 Million subs. Dude, if they had 5 MILLION subs, I think everyone would have cosplayed as a Morbol in the two Years Anniversary stream.

On a side note, players crying SO HARD about housing reclamation... The rivers of tears all over the forums, sometimes I feel like Im in an attorney's office, really. There are countless threads here, countless messages on reddit. What is wrong with people?

I have no idea. Personally, I went "Oh, okay. Sounds good. Maybe 45 days is a little short, though." and went back to doing other stuff.
If I could enjoy all the Salt, I think I would be happy for a few months from now on, but sadly I can't.

[Cheraa]

Well, to be honest not everyone is interested in raids, there are dedicated crafters, there are RPers and just people who don't like raid environment, especially in a DF. But it will amount to 20-25% maximum, so yeah, 300k+ or something around that, maybe a little more.

Don't forget players that just started FF XIV with HW Release.
In my FC are at least 10 player that has been completly new to FF XIV and most of them just hit Level 60 in the last two weeks, currently staying at ilvl 145-160 and gearing up for Alex. And I think, we are by far not the only FC that got new Players with HW Release.
I think overall 400-500k Subs is realistic for FF XIV.

[Iris_BP]

Don't forget players that just started FF XIV with HW Release.
In my FC are at least 10 player that has been completly new to FF XIV and most of them just hit Level 60 in the last two weeks, currently staying at ilvl 145-160 and gearing up for Alex. And I think, we are by far not the only FC that got new Players with HW Release.
I think overall 400-500k Subs is realistic for FF XIV.

That's true. Damn, I myself came after HW. Granted I played 1.0 starting from beta for quite some time (that's why it took me so long to go and try ARR, lol). But it feels like such a long time ago, already

[seekified]

You just can't please people, I suppose. Everyone's been whining for months that the housing situation is terrible and when SE implements the only fix they can give us right now, people are up in arms because they could lose houses that nobody's using. *sigh*

[Dererk]

There are approximately 500,000 active subs. To not make over a million dollars in a month the subscription would need to be under $2

There's still other expenses and maintenance and overhead and what have you, but it'd all have to be really expensive to knock the income under $1mil

It's not like there servers can cost any more than, oh idk, maybe tree fiddy

What the? Oh no no go away loch nes monsta. I ain't giving you no tree fiddy.

In response to OP its their right to do this to housing there's people with plots who haven't logged in for over a year. They can't just keep adding new servers for wards because of how much it costs.

This is the first step their taking to reworking housing.

Also not adding more servers right now means more money in game content.

[Ashkendor]

But after this housing thing I feel like this may just be an identical investment to WoW, being that there really don't seem to be anymore longterm achievements, and even worse, I basically have to commit to this game indefinitely if I want to enjoy the ultimate reward (what I consider to be the ultimate reward) in the game (having a house). I feel like its inevitable that I just won't be able to play at one point, or I just won't want too sometime within the next 10 years.

After a quick glance at your Lodestone, you have tons and tons of content still open to you and you're saying there's no long term goals? I have to say I really don't understand how you're coming up with that just based on the housing purge. I agree that the current housing system isn't very good and that mistakes have been made (mostly combining FC and personal housing), but it's what they have to work with. Slapping new wards up every time the old ones fill is no more a permanent fix than purging the inactive housing, because they will eventually run out of resources. The thing is, I can't see them completely scrapping the system and starting over at this point, so we'll just have to wait and see what kind of plans they have to fix the issue. Constructively suggesting changes is good; some of those changes may even be implemented, but that's going to take time. Shouting doom from the rooftops without offering any alternatives doesn't help anyone, though.

Either way, what they're doing here is freeing up all the space they can while they work further on it. It was never meant to solve the problem in its entirety, but idle housing doesn't help anyone so they're getting rid of it. If even a few people that have been waiting months now can get their FC a home, then purging inactive properties has ultimately served the purpose that they meant it to serve.

With things looking how they are, SE doesn't look like it has any intention of fixing this problem, or they simply lack the capability to do so. Either way, I will never be able to enjoy the final reward without literally committing to the game forever.

You're really quick to dismiss the fact that this has always been billed as the first step of their plan for housing.

If you want to quit over the housing, then that's your prerogative. Honestly, it's not exactly a hugely important part of the game. Most of what's available there is cosmetic. That's not to say it's not enjoyable, but it's definitely not required to play the game.

[Sterre]

You just can't please people, I suppose. Everyone's been whining for months that the housing situation is terrible and when SE implements the only fix they can give us right now, people are up in arms because they could lose houses that nobody's using. *sigh*

Ikr, no matter what SE does, people will always find something to whine about.