Yoshi-P on Character Growth

[Thayos]

Yeah but Wildstar was just some no-name MMO. Old Gen + No Name will only draw in just the MMO-scene.

I've seen this rebuttal a few times, and I profoundly disagree with this line of thinking.

The Final Fantasy franchise clearly isn't the invincible juggernaut it used to be. Yes, the name still carries weight, but not so much in the MMO-sphere. MMORPGs are perpetually competing for a niche demographic of gamers, and those of us in this sphere are greatly exposed to the upcoming titles. Wildstar got TONS of press and publicity as a cool new game that would cater to our old-school needs. Heck, back when ARR launched, it seemed like half the posts in the forums were about how Wildstar was going to crush FFXIV.

We all know how that worked out.

Would more people have tried Wildstar had it been a Final Fantasy game? For sure. But not as many as you'd think if the game still had a weird cartoony art style and grindy old-school mechanics, because today's core MMO demographic doesn't want that... and, to them, Final Fantasy isn't a sacred cow.

Wildstar failed because most MMORPG players don't want to return to that kind of gameplay.