How many people play FFXIV?

[OJtheLIONKing]

Leaving aside the amazing sidetrack (funny how forums do that), It has to be at least 40k I think. Which certainly isn't good, but it's more than some other games. I'm staying when the game starts charging again, but I'm basically taking a hiatus for the month of november because basically all the AAA games this year are crammed into a 3 week period. I, being an idiot, decided to play oblivion again before skyrim, and it's already taken the better part of a week.

Anywho, I'm willing to guess any metric will be inaccurate during this heavy game release period. I'm not myself, but a lot of people are getting their Modern Warfare 3/Battlefield 3 on at the moment.

[AmyRae]

There was never an accurate population count released. I for one think that they should release population numbers. They themselves said that they will push towards 2.0 even if no one is playing, I don't see what the harm is in letting us know the total numbers (if not server population) at least until 2.0.

It would either show

• How dedicated they remain to the game despite its low population (which would help the fears of people worried that the game could shut down).
• Growth.

You're forgetting that once subscriptions start, the population is going to shrink drastically. It's inevitable. I'm pretty sure they're not going to want to show you just how badly but you ought to be able to get a rough idea by how quiet Ul'Dah gets.

[Victor]

Don't kid yourself. This game is dead as heck... Maybe in a year after 2.0 hits things may improve but my god is it ever a laughing joke at the moment.

[Crunkjuice]

Don't kid yourself. This game is dead as heck... Maybe in a year after 2.0 hits things may improve but my god is it ever a laughing joke at the moment.

not kidding

[Bahn]

I'm guessing you haven't played it. Beta keys are all over the place for the next weekend test. Try it... preferably for more than five minutes.

No, I want to defend my inferior incomplete MMORPG that I will be paying $13/month for while a vastly superior one is coming out on the market! Screw what you think, I'M GOING TO MAKE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT SOMETHING I HAVEN'T PLAYED BECAUSE I AM SMARTER THAN YOU AND MOAR LITERATE THAN YOU BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO USE A MOUSE FOR A PC GAME ARE STUPID.

[Bahn]

You're forgetting that once subscriptions start, the population is going to shrink drastically. It's inevitable. I'm pretty sure they're not going to want to show you just how badly but you ought to be able to get a rough idea by how quiet Ul'Dah gets.

Depends on what they do with the price. Square's still been pretty silent about a reduced price, and yeah, a drop in population is sure to come once it goes P2P. How big of a drop will be determined by what Square does with the P2P matter and how accessible it is to actually get Square to take your money (direct charge vs Click2Buy vs PayPal). Now that the patch notes are in place and there's healthy discussion abound (which I enjoy - these patch notes look like they're going in the right direction, but still need further tweaking) I think a greater portion of players will stick around now that they have a more concrete idea as to what's in store for us.

[AmyRae]

Depends on what they do with the price. Square's still been pretty silent about a reduced price, and yeah, a drop in population is sure to come once it goes P2P. How big of a drop will be determined by what Square does with the P2P matter and how accessible it is to actually get Square to take your money (direct charge vs Click2Buy vs PayPal). Now that the patch notes are in place and there's healthy discussion abound (which I enjoy - these patch notes look like they're going in the right direction, but still need further tweaking) I think a greater portion of players will stick around now that they have a more concrete idea as to what's in store for us.

I'm totally with you on that. I'm not questioning the need for a subscription fee, and I hope the right price will maximize the number of players willing to pay while granting the best amount of revenue. But, no matter the price, a fee is going to see players drop off. Just how many is the question we may never know the answer to.