starting to lose interest in this game sadly

[Iskander]

"What if they did something completely unlike what they are doing and that they said they won't do!? Well, What then!?"

Is basically what you are saying

Which is kinda...pointless/

Sooo....about 60-70% of content announcements for FFXIV?

Game companies are in business to Make Money, nothing more. If their product Pleases the Public, so much the better.

Game does not please the public. Public becomes furious. Word of mouth and reviews give game a bad reputation. Game stops generating profit. Failure.
Game pleases public. Public becomes happy. Word of mouth and reviews give game a good reputation. Game continues to generate profit. More development is done for content for game. Success.

Sort of, he listed a handful of other people that need wages too and brought up some other expenses. It doesn't mean they aren't making loads off of our subs already, and that they don't really need the cash shop purchases. They are a cash grab, because yes they are in the business of making money.

They company, in business of making money, will charge as much as they can to make money. The consumers, in the business of saving money, will try to limit how much they can charge us. Consumers do this through consumer feedback (like this thread) and consumer demand. Rolling over and saying they want to make money, so here take it, is very poor consumer behavior and not at all how a capitalist economy works.

Partly this. They makes enough in subs in order to pay the FFXIV staff. Before the cash shop, they paid their staff while subs were incoming. The number of subs has only increased since that point. The FFXIV team has not substantially increased by any significant margin. That is the thanks of SE's board.

When the cash shop released, they said the funds were going to the European Data Center stuff. After the success of the cash shop, dollar signs appeared in their eyes and they turned it into a cash grab.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Game does not please the public. Public becomes furious. Word of mouth and reviews give game a bad reputation. Game stops generating profit. Failure.
Game pleases public. Public becomes happy. Word of mouth and reviews give game a good reputation. Game continues to generate profit. More development is done for content for game. Success.

Contrary to popular belief, forums make up a incredibly small fraction of any fanbase. Even if the majority here loathed the Cash Shop with a destructive passion that makes Bahamut blush, it would be a drop in the bucket. The fact Sleipnir has garnered over half a million dollars suggests people don't hate the Cash Shop all that much.

Partly this. They makes enough in subs in order to pay the FFXIV staff. Before the cash shop, they paid their staff while subs were incoming. The number of subs has only increased since that point. The FFXIV team has not substantially increased by any significant margin. That is the thanks of SE's board.

When the cash shop released, they said the funds were going to the European Data Center stuff. After the success of the cash shop, dollar signs appeared in their eyes and they turned it into a cash grab.

Or, or! Those funds are now being diverted to another section of the game. It's almost like they need to constantly provide content or upgrades at regular intervals. But even if their motivations were solely profit. Welcome to business 101. A company's primary interest is to make money. Despite that, they appeal their customers by restricting the Cash Shop to vanity items that have no influence on the game. FFXIV is actually an example of precisely how a Cash Shop should be managed. Dislike the color swapped Magitek Chocobos? No worries! You have a black one that functions in the exact same way, and it's free! If someone else wants to pay $12 for it. That's their prerogative.

[Ryel]

Or, or! Those funds are now being diverted to another game.

Most likely scenario tbh.

Between FFVII remaster, FFXV release, KH3, and bankruptcy recovery I'm willing to bet that's where those funds are going.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Most likely scenario tbh.

Between FFVII remaster, FFXV release, KH3, and bankruptcy recovery I'm willing to bet that's where those funds are going.

Oh, no doubt. FFXIV's profits are definitely fueling FFXV, and possibly FFVII. I suspect Disney's stack in Kingdom Hearts keeps that money train going. Nevertheless, that is less a FFXIV problem and more simple business, as frustrating as it can be.

[Kaurie]

Contrary to popular belief, forums make up a incredibly small fraction of any fanbase. Even if the majority here loathed the Cash Shop with a destructive passion that makes Bahamut blush, it would be a drop in the bucket. The fact Sleipnir has garnered over half a million dollars suggests people don't hate the Cash Shop all that much.

It may be a small sample size, and is hardly representative of the whole, but that does not equate to all feedback on the forums being negligible or irrelevant. Similarly, feedback given to a cell phone call center is only a small percentage of subscribers, but the feedback is taken very seriously for future planning. (I use this example, because I used to work in a cell phone call center and can attest to it.)

Or, or! Those funds are now being diverted to another section of the game. It's almost like they need to constantly provide content or upgrades at regular intervals. But even if their motivations were solely profit. Welcome to business 101. A company's primary interest is to make money. Despite that, they appeal their customers by restricting the Cash Shop to vanity items that have no influence on the game. FFXIV is actually an example of precisely how a Cash Shop should be managed. Dislike the color swapped Magitek Chocobos? No worries! You have a black one that functions in the exact same way, and it's free! If someone else wants to pay $12 for it. That's their prerogative.

Your argument starts off very dismissive and condescending, and there is no need for that. We can all have a mature discussion here.

Firstly, your failing in your duties as a consumer. That is a consumer should be looking after their own self interests, and not defending the interests of a company. This is how we arrive at appropriate market prices of assigning value to products.

Secondly, studies have shown that increased profits don't result in money trickling down. Increased profits just result in the rich executives getting richer. Conversely, decreased profits do trickle down and result in layoffs / budget decreases. It's fair to assume that the increased profits from the cash shop are then not trickling down, and are simply going to executives.

Looking at this document, http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/pdf/ar_2015en.pdf, it appears that SE received increased profits from 2014 to 2015 and saw a decrease in things like salaries from 2014 to 2015. There is a lot on there though, and I am no economics major. I'd be more than interested to see if anyone else has anything enlightening to say from it.

FFXIV is actually an example of precisely how a Cash Shop should be managed.

Going back to this point, I disagree. I think that Guild Wars 2 does the best job with their cash shop. Nothing is necessary to play the game (the same here), but you can purchase gems with gold or real money. Conversely, you can use this to buy gold with real money, which helps reduce RMT and provides an appropriate real world market price for gold. People can decide whether farming gold is more important to buy items, or if using real world money is more appropriate for buying items/gold - resulting in a balanced market value of money, time and gold.