To all the people saying that the start of monthly fees will be the end of FFXIV...

[Gathol]

Any money they make between now and 2.0 is going to have to be immediately re-invested in advertising. Keeping it free between now and then allows for more positive word-of-mouth from those playing it and checking back in on the game as it improves.

It's very important they allow people to continue "checking in" on the progress of the game. When the fee drops, so does a lot of the positive press through word-of-mouth. Is 1.19 / 1.20 really the last impression they want to leave?

Keep it free. Keep improving it. Treat it as advertising.

This isn't a small indie title. It's silly to try and play it up as some sort of "investment for the future." That's why SquareEnix has investors.

[Sagagemini]

OP is definetely a fanboy.

But yea, SE will start making some money out of this failure now, thanks to people like you.

[Answa]

How about a compromise? They charge us HALF of what they planned for the next year. More subs are comfortable with that=more ppl will pay to play=more money for SE. Everybody's happy.

Pretty sure the amount of people who leave are not half the population currently playing, so they make more charging full price. And I'm comfortable with that.

[Rhianu]

How about a compromise? They charge us HALF of what they planned for the next year. More subs are comfortable with that=more ppl will pay to play=more money for SE. Everybody's happy.

More people wouldn't necessarily equal greater profits if they were charging half the price. It would depend on how many people were playing, and whether the tipping point of subscription numbers was reached. Suppose for example that if SE charges full price for the monthly fee, that 100K people play the game, but if SE charges half-price, that's enough incentive to attract an additional 20K subscribers. But is SE really making more money under that circumstance? Let's look at the math:

$15.00 * 100,000 = $1,500,000
$7.50 * 120,000 = $900,000

$7.50 * 200,000 = $1,500,000

In order to get the same amount of money at half the price, SE would need to attract DOUBLE the number of subscribers just to reach the same level of profit that they would make at full price, and that's just to break even. If the half-price fee were to surpass the profits that would be earned by the full price fee, the number of subscribers would have to EXCEED the entire original amount of people who were willing to pay full price. And is a difference of $7.50 enough to achieve that big of a difference in numbers? I don't think so.

If someone is willing to pay $7.50 to play FFXIV, they'd be willing to pay the full $15. The people who don't want to pay $15 wouldn't want to pay $7.50, either, so they're lost either way.

Some people seem to think that multi-million dollar corporations should be pitied

Not pitied, just treated fairly and logically, as well as approached with the understanding that their purpose is to turn a profit.

OP is definetely a fanboy.

Funny, not two days ago I was called a hater. >.>

Whenever I criticize SE, I get called a hater. When I praise them, I get called a fanboy. It's like I can't win either way.

But I guess that's what illogical and biased people do. Anyone who thinks about SE differently than they do is either a hater or a fanboy, depending on which side of the fence you're on.

[NefGP]

While I hate the timing, anyone crying over this needs to just grow up.

Do you people have any idea what running an HD game like this, for free, has cost the company this past year? It's not like SE's rolling in the money either - Deus Ex was a big hit but that was really Eidos' work, and I don't fancy FFXIII-2 doing all that well.


We all know this was coming, and while I too would prefer they hold off until 2.0, or at least next year, if this is what it takes to ensure the game's rebirth I'll pay my share.

Besides, it means the people who do stay on are the ones who really care about the game and by extension their input will only become that much more valuable.

[Gokulo]

Pretty sure the amount of people who leave are not half the population currently playing, so they make more charging full price. And I'm comfortable with that.

Actually they won't be charging full price. 30 days will cost you 999 Crysta, so that's less than the usual MMO sub.

[mrpoohbear510]

Your entire stance makes absolutely no sense.

Let's think about this logically for a moment. In order for FFXIV to be commercially successful, it has to bring in more revenue than it costs to keep it up and running.

Now which of the following options do you think would cost SE more money?

Option A) Keeping FFXIV free for another year, while they continue to spend more and more money on development, updates, and new content.
OR
Option B) Start charging a monthly fee so that they can start to recoup their losses from all the money they've bleed out since FFXIV's launch in 2010.

Popularity and subscription number don't mean squat. A player who isn't paying is making zero money for the company, and therefore the company loses absolutely nothing of monetary value if that person stops playing. Sure, they might lose a subscriber, but subscribers that don't generate any income are -- quite literally -- worthless.

Subscription numbers only matter when there is a subscription fee in place. Having a game with a few paying subscribers will always be more profitable than having a game with tons of non-paying subscribers.

I don't understand why so many people seem to think FFXIV would go under if SE started turning a profit on it. Games go under when they lose money, NOT when they lose subscribers.

In order to stay afloat, income must always be greater than expenses. Honestly, this is basic finances here.

Simple finance hahahahah, love the tone of your voice too. First of all, there isn't just "simple" option A and option B, I swear I know the term for this when you limit people to just two option when there's more...let me see...oh well since you're so smart you'd probably know the business term. I love how you say it's simple finances, well lets talk about simple business, expenses....profit...how to get these two...oh yes! Timing is important too, you forgot that in your "simple" equation.

Btw, I agree with some of the things you said, of course profit is what every business want, but there's many things to consider and timing is one of it. For most people here, I believe what they're saying is not that SE should charge or not, but that it may be too soon. Hey guys I'm selling this new house I just built, it doesn't have a roof on it, but if you pay now, we promise we'll build one in the future! Is that simple enough for you?

[Bearforce]

Simple fiance hahahahah, love the tone of your voice too. First of all, there isn't just "simple" option A and option B, I swear I know the term for this when you make it looks like there's only two...let me see...oh well since you're so smart you'd probably know the business term. I love how you say it's simple finances, well lets talk about simple business, expenses....profit...how to get these two...oh yes! Timing is important too, you forgot that in your "simple" equation. Btw, I agree with some of the things you said, of course profit is what every business want, but there's many things to consider and timing is one of it. For most people here, I believe what they're saying is not that SE should charge or not, but that it may be too soon. Hey guys I'm selling this new house i just built, it doesn't have a roof on it, but if you pay now for the rent we promise we'll build one! Is that simple enough for you?

agreed 100%. i cant accept the idea of "pay now and later you gonna experiance a ffxiv v2.0 with new storylines and many other features" isnt acceptable at all.

[Judah]

What I can't understand is why any of you think Square-Enix somehow deserves our money just because the last year has been free. The game was released unfinished, hailing FFXIV the biggest flop in "AAA" MMORPG history.

"But what about all the changes and content they have added?"

Excuse me? 90% of the updates are quality of life issues. Horribly designed systems being replaced with other horribly designed systems in order to bandaid the original mistake. Want an example? The Market Wards + Item Search Function. Market wards were a HORRIBLE idea any way you look at it. It's not innovative; every free to play Chinese MMORPG has the same thing, just not confined to a single zone.

As far as new content is concerned, the only things added have been boring treks around the in game world, talking to NPCs just to be told you need to now run 2,000 "yalms" the opposite direction.

"What about the instanced dungeons?"

What about them? There are two dungeons which are literally just a group of people training mobs from one side to another, just to fight a single boss for a chance at mediocre loot. Take a look at Darkhold for example. You literally spend the first 10 minutes just running and sleeping mobs. The treasure chests which supposedly provide incentive for straying from the path 90% of the time just drop level 5 dark matter, or the equivalent of 3000 gold. It's a joke. The encounters themselves are probably the simplest things mechanic wise I have ever seen in any MMORPG. The only reason people struggle with the content is because the community is so small, that literally every guild has to carry people's wives and parents on their horribly played characters just to appease their few good linkshell mates.

tl;dr

Square-Enix made a greedy corporate decision to release an unfinished game, and instead of accepting this and moving on, their fanbase continues to follow them blindly down the road to further disappointment.

If their concern is even slightly legitimate about rebuilding the Final Fantasy image, they will rebuild this game WITH or WITHOUT your monthly contribution. All you are doing by paying for this incomplete mess is lining the pockets of greedy corporate scum, who honestly care more about a .1% increase in revenue than you as a customer.

[Alerith]

Square-Enix made a greedy corporate decision to release an unfinished game, and instead of accepting this and moving on, their fanbase continues to follow them blindly down the road to further disappointment.

If their concern is even slightly legitimate about rebuilding the Final Fantasy image, they will rebuild this game WITH or WITHOUT your monthly contribution. All you are doing by paying for this incomplete mess is lining the pockets of greedy corporate scum, who honestly care more about a .1% increase in revenue than you as a customer.

If that were true, they wouldn't be as involved with the playerbase as they have been. Nor would they be listening to our input and implementing good changes.

If you think the game is bad, that's your opinion. But SE has contradicted your last statement over the course of the past year. If they really wanted that .1%, they would have been charging a subscription fee since launch, since 5 people paying a $10 subscription still nets them $50 more than 20,000 people playing for free.