How many people play FFXIV?

[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.