Stop Making Should-Be Achievement Gear.."Optional Gear"

[Beckett]

This additional money has helped justify the moving of the US servers to a better location and the overall upgrade to all the servers we get in SB, as well as apparently a tripling of the budget they had in HW to make SB with. The cash shop also help finance the establishment of the EU servers in EU.

While I believe SE made a statement saying that the cash shop helped facilitate the upgraded EU severs, no such statement was made for the NA servers. We also have no proof that the new NA location will be better. The cash shop may have funded the new NA servers, and the new NA servers may improve things, but we can't say yet that either of those things is true.

[Belhi]

While I believe SE made a statement saying that the cash shop helped facilitate the upgraded EU severs, no such statement was made for the NA servers. We also have no proof that the new NA location will be better. The cash shop may have funded the new NA servers, and the new NA servers may improve things, but we can't say yet that either of those things is true.

They tripled FF14's budget for SB. For that to happen, the development teams had sufficient financial data to convince the corporate side of things that the investment was worth it. We are getting a lot system wise. I seriously doubt FF14's sub numbers have increased to the point that would justify it otherwise. Upgrades and moves like that aren't cheap and they are on top of the usual development costs.

This is the reality. If we want more for FF14, the games earnings have to be high enough to justify it. That means either A) a lot more players, B) a higher sub fee or C) additional revenue streams.

[Beckett]

They tripled FF14's budget for SB. For that to happen, the development teams had sufficient financial data to convince the corporate side of things that the investment was worth it. We are getting a lot system wise. I seriously doubt FF14's sub numbers have increased to the point that would justify it otherwise. Upgrades and moves like that aren't cheap and they are on top of the usual development costs.

Yes, but did they triple the budget for Stormblood because FFXIV was making triple the profit, or simply because they stopped taking 2/3 of the profit away from XIV's development?

Just remember that those extra dollars people spend on the store are benfitting you directly by increasing the available budget for future FFXIV content.

That would be nice, but as you said...

It's about expanding your business as a whole, not just one specific IP.

We have no proof that (all) the money made from mog station is being used to make the game better, or even that (all of) our sub money is being used to make the game better. I believe it was outright stated that SE was stripping funding from XIV in order to make XV.

[JunseiKei]

No, a subscription model should only have a cash shop that doesn't affect gameplay (no, I don't consider "jump" potion or story skip potions to be affecting of gameplay, only time/grind savers).

I find it pointless to grind for a vanity item.

Of course, income from the Mogstation doesn't all go directly back into the game. Just like FFXIV wasn't funded by itself from scratch, or when it was brought down to remake it and be re-released as ARR.

[Belhi]

Yes, but did they triple the budget for Stormblood because FFXIV was making triple the profit, or simply because they stopped taking 2/3 of the profit away from XIV's development?

I seriously doubt that the budget boost was suddenly because they decided to give FF14 'what it earned'. There are a lot of conspiracy theories but it wouldn't make financial sense to strip 2/3ds of a successful IP's budget away to invest in other areas. Certainly a portion but not 2/3rds. SE works a lot on looking at metrics and stats and setting up prediction models on how things are going to go. Its partially how the prioritise what content they develop. Content has a value based on how much people are actually going to play it. Things like budget allocation aren't done randomly. They are done based of earnings forecasts and predicted returns on investment.

When asking for a bigger budget, the primary consideration for the corporate side of things would be wether the net earnings justified additional investment. In that regard you can be sure that the additional revenue from the cash shop would have factored into the decision.

Saying the Cash Shop funded the new server moves and upgrades would be wrong. However they very much played a substancial role in justifying the authorisation of funds to make those investments.

[JunseiKei]

~snip~

To tack onto your statement, people are so tunnel visioned. They see the game and think funds go only into the game, or they "should only go into the game." They don't consider the cost of doing business, like advertisement. PAX, E3, Tokyo Game Show, Fan Fest- all these take quite a substantial amount of funds to make happen that many people appreciate what the outcome is from those endeavors (how many MMOs actually show at those places, let alone a subscription based one?). Then when you take into account for expansions, what amounts to another game, I'm highly doubtful subscription costs alone could fund it. While they might, the amount of time needed to develop these things would certainly be longer.

[Naunet]

They don't consider the cost of doing business, like advertisement

That's not even where funds are going, though. SE uses FFXIV to fund other games entirely, which honestly is a pretty cruddy deal for those of us who play no other SE games.

[JunseiKei]

That's not even where funds are going, though. SE uses FFXIV to fund other games entirely, which honestly is a pretty cruddy deal for those of us who play no other SE games.

It's really silly to think that all the funds go back into the game and hinted as much in my other post.

You know, the line about FFXIV didn't fund itself from scratch. I think that went over your head just a little. However, you're making quite the bold statements; care to present the data to SE's financial record?

Don't misunderstand, which I think you will, I'm not saying all of FFXIV's funds go back into the game nor am I denying that their funds don't go into other SE titles. I'm very sure they do. However, by your logic, we'd never see another new IP by SE again.

[DaikiKiyoshi]

That's not even where funds are going, though. SE uses FFXIV to fund other games entirely, which honestly is a pretty cruddy deal for those of us who play no other SE games.

I'd love to see where you found out that the funds don't go towards advertising at all. Got any links?

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

That's not even where funds are going, though. SE uses FFXIV to fund other games entirely, which honestly is a pretty cruddy deal for those of us who play no other SE games.

Except when profits from those other games come back to FFXIV for more development.

This is how a game company works. The portfolio MUST be diverse. One game cannot carry a company.