The virtual currency "Moogle Coins" in the FFXIV Companion app must be removed

[Tridus]

And with how big the controversy was with EA and Battlefront, they still do the exact same shit with little to no change. With FF14 being a lot smaller, I doubt they'll listen at all despite how much a lot of us are against it. No one has given Square any other problems with their mobile games and microtransactions so they are just going to keep pushing forward.

Only until people stop buying. This cost money to develop. If nobody subscribes, the message gets sent pretty clearly that we don't want more flagrant cash grabs.

Speak with your wallet. It's the language all corporate management types understand.

[PonifiedBeast]

Only until people stop buying. This cost money to develop. If nobody subscribes, the message gets sent pretty clearly that we don't want more flagrant cash grabs.

Speak with your wallet. It's the language all corporate management types understand.

Only problem with that is that is that people will do it anyway. Micro-transactions are extremely popular, and is a lot more so in JA. Square has a ton of mobile games that are JA exclusive. In a business standpoint, they'd be stupid to not want to bank on it.

[Squintina]

Only problem with that is that is that people will do it anyway. Micro-transactions are extremely popular, and is a lot more so in JA. Square has a ton of mobile games that are JA exclusive. In a business standpoint, they'd be stupid to not want to bank on it.

I do think (and this is one of the few things mentioned in the JP forums, which has less than 2 pages about the app since the live letter announcement, not exactly a huge sample size sadly :/ They're not being super talkative in the forums about this topic - one way or the other)
that another part of this is the amount of money expected.

The scope of the monetization is the premium sub of 500 yen (5$ a month) + occasional moogle coins (price undisclosed) for having more MB access, retainer inventory access, double saddlebag, and the ability to purchase an extra retainer (which still needs to be paid separately).

Maybe if they had made it 100 yen / 1$ a month, with no purchasable moogle coins, there would be a bit less backlash. There'd still be some, but probably less.
Like I'd probably have been "ok" enough with that to not bother complaining about it.

It's the same reason why I don't buy 24$ mounts on the cash shop. No one can convince me a mount is worth 2 months of a sub, or half an expansion. But if it had been 2-5$, I might have been like "well...They probably want some extra funding to work on the next expansion and expand their team...and that carby does look cute....and my wallet's right next to me...."

Simply speaking. These micro transactions aren't micro enough, especially when being put next to us still having to pay for a sub and expansions. At least, that's how I feel.

@SE: If you want people like me to open up about micro transactions in a sub game, please make prices that are easier for us to rationalize. If you price it right, the increased volume of buyers will offset the loss in profit per transaction (and it'll make it easier to accept that most new cash shop items are per-character instead of account-wide if you had smaller prices)

[Tridus]

The scope of the monetization is the premium sub of 500 yen (5$ a month) + occasional moogle coins (price undisclosed) for having more MB access, retainer inventory access, double saddlebag, and the ability to purchase an extra retainer (which still needs to be paid separately).

Maybe if they had made it 100 yen / 1$ a month, with no purchasable moogle coins, there would be a bit less backlash. There'd still be some, but probably less.
Like I'd probably have been "ok" enough with that to not bother complaining about it.

Yep. The pricing is based around the idea that most people won't pay it, but those that will are not price sensitive. Getting those people (the industry terminology is "whales") to pay more is more profitable than setting a lower price and hoping to get more people paying. (I used to work at a gas station that did this. They were the only one in a certain area and always charged more knowing some people were willing to pay rather than driving down the road. When you make 3x the profit per sale, you don't need nearly as many sales. And given how thin margins on gas are, a few cents makes a real difference in your profit per sale.)

It's the precise model P2W mobile apps use and this app is following it, although what it does isn't very interesting. As soon as you think you will only ever get the whales to pay any amount, you jack the price up because they'll pay it.

It's the same reason why I don't buy 24$ mounts on the cash shop. No one can convince me a mount is worth 2 months of a sub, or half an expansion. But if it had been 2-5$, I might have been like "well...They probably want some extra funding to work on the next expansion and expand their team...and that carby does look cute....and my wallet's right next to me...."

Simply speaking. These micro transactions aren't micro enough, especially when being put next to us still having to pay for a sub and expansions. At least, that's how I feel.

Yep. But see above. People saw the mount and some folks wanted it at any price. If you charge $5, you need what, five extra buyers to make the same money? That's why it is priced so high.

I've got a few mog station items outfit wise, but I'm thinking its time to stop. The message they seem to be taking from it is that it should be a priority, and that's a problem.

[Mahrze]

Honestly, it's this, or sub increases for everyone. I'd rather the ability to choose to pay more than be forced to, wouldn't you? The price of a sub for an mmo has been static for more than 20 years, I don't think anything else has ever remained the same price for that long.

Prices for games in general have been static for quite some time. And a sub increase would require a reasonable explanation, commitment and promise from the company that the money is going to the game, regardless if the 5 USD only has 1 USD going to the game. Akin to how legacy players have the "commitment" to pay less because they supported the game in 1.0.

Instead, we have 5 optional USD that are for the most part an extra earning on the already large cash cow that is the game. I don't dislike the "optional" venue. But it is clear their target audience is on the home-front and seem to forget their home-front is not as big as the international reach they have.

Only until people stop buying. This cost money to develop. If nobody subscribes, the message gets sent pretty clearly that we don't want more flagrant cash grabs.

Speak with your wallet. It's the language all corporate management types understand.

Sadly, we're past that point when the carby mount became the most popular item in the mogstation (if the rankings are not a marketing thing).

Only problem with that is that is that people will do it anyway. Micro-transactions are extremely popular, and is a lot more so in JA. Square has a ton of mobile games that are JA exclusive. In a business standpoint, they'd be stupid to not want to bank on it.

Yeah and those games die in 6-12 months after their launch, quick cash grabs and hype trains are the seasoning on the FotM mobile game dishes in Japan. And those games have the additional thing that you don't pay for the game, your account, initial and subsequent access to said game.

The thing is, they are using price differentiation as a gate behind things that should be in the game. And things are now less about customer loyalty (no more veteran rewards and I assume the legacy demographic is very minuscule vs the majority) and more about a glaring intent to maximize profit from the customers they know place value on extras that are standards in other games with simpler or similar "premium" models.

[Tridus]

Sadly, we're past that point when the carby mount became the most popular item in the mogstation (if the rankings are not a marketing thing).

Guilty. I bought one as a birthday present for someone. She was very happy.

But it's not too late with the app. People don't have to subscribe to that nonsense.

[Mahrze]

But it's not too late with the app. People don't have to subscribe to that nonsense.

When you have the carby mount. The Shiva statue "out of stock" thing 3 times and other things. I doubt this will hold any water unless this reaches high tides through gaming websites and other media.

Then we have the dilemma for the media: "Do I report this which makes SE look bad and risk SE not granting us review copies of releases?" because I am sure this is something that exists to a degree.